My mutation story

For science my class and I are currently on biology. Mr Robinson gave us another ADL project on genes and mutation. He instructed us to chose a genetic disorder and to right a story about our point of view as if we were the gene that is mutating. I chose the Crouzon syndrome. Hope you enjoy my story!

Part 1:

Dear diary,
I am FGFR2, a gene in my host “Bradley’s” body. He is still in his mother’s womb. Anyways, lately I’ve been starting feeling weird like I’m transforming. I feel really odd. “Wait, oh no”, I am being mutated. A mutation is a replacement, addition, or subtraction of chromosomes. Chromosome sends signals to create the right protein in our genetics. “I must be ordering the wrong protein”! “This must be really bad, I must find out what will happen”! Wait, I remember being told by my brother FGFR1 that symptoms like those that I have is rare and to avoid it all costs. If i have what he was talking about i must be giving Bradley a disorder called Crouzon Syndrome. If that’s true, when born, he will be experiencing dramatic effects.

Source for picture: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/uXdzuz5Q-hs/maxresdefault.jpg

His skull will be fusing together way too fast. That means that the shape of his skull will mature way to quickly and could harm his head. Because the bones fused too quickly, it will lead to a beaked nose, an undeveloped upper jaw, bulging eyes, and vision loss because his eye sockets will be too shallow. I also heard that many headaches may be common when an infant because the brain will be squeezed by the overgrowing bone.

Source for picture: http://www.craniofacial.net/wp-content/plugins/before-after-gallery_DND-4.2/image.php?img=/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/crouzon-syndrome-2-front-before.jpg&width=200&height=250

What do I do”? The reason why there is an overgrowth of bone is because i produce to much of a protein called fibroblast when mutated. Fibroblast changes immature cells into bone cells produce too much of it the host will grow more bone cells that needed. “That’s why his skull will deform”. “Why do I have to be the one that gives this baby a terrible disorder”?

If Bradley does not deal with it soon he will live his life with a deformed skull ,cross eyed bulging eyes, and loss in vision and hearing.“How can it be stopped”? Wait, I remember I heard some of the other genes talking saying there  are many ways this dis function can be dealt with. There are surgery’s that can expand and reshape the skull. But depending on the severity, the child may need surgery before the age of one. “Maybe this is not a disaster after all”.  Also, if the children regularly visit the ophthalmologist, they may indeed solve the vision problem. “Horray”.

Part 2:

So if you have not noticed already, my mutation was the Crouzon syndrome. This syndrome really interested me because its effects really astounded me and that there actually is treatment for this disorder. The main websites I used where  http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/crouzon-syndrome and http://www.seattlechildrens.org/medical-conditions/bone-joint-muscle-conditions/crouzon-treatment/ . I started off asking what is this disease. When I arrived at the first site most of my other questions where also answered like, “How common is it”?, and “What causes it”? I also asked, “What treatment is there”? I was surprised how many ways there where to deal with this dis function. I also used a YouTube video for one of my digital tools to find information: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X97fxLKjeUw

I really wanted to make sure that I found the most accurate and reliable information there is. I also did not want to copy what others have wrote down as that would be plagiarizing. I think I did a good job with making my work my own and using the most accurate information I gathered.

 Things I could have done better:

I could have used more digital sources. I will admit that my use of different sources was limited as i was really only using search engines and a YouTube video. With that being said I also believe I could have explored more sources overall so I could have found MORE reliable information.

Before I end off I wanted to reinforce that all the information I gathered and their rights should go to their respected owners and that I own none of it and only USING it for this project. Thank you for reading this far and I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks!