Mutation Story

Turner Syndrome!

chromosomal mutation

 

Part 1: Mutation Story

• What happened to you as a gene?

The 23rd pair of chromosomes was missing one x chromosome

• What caused your mutation?

The missing x chromosome caused the mutation

• What effects did the gene mutation have on your host’s body?

My host, names Peyton, is now really short, her body is really undeveloped. Her ovaries never fully developed and now she can’t have children because they can’t produce eggs. There are treatments though that can help her overcome these problems.

• How was the host’s life affected? What was their story?

She was bullied as a child for her height, she has weird hair in places, and her ovaries aren’t fully developed so she can’t have kids.

 

 

 

The story of the X Chromosome

            There I was, sitting in my DNA missing part of my body. “What have I done?” I say to myself as I realize the trouble I have caused. “I’ve ruined my host, she will never love me, I will always to be blame.” These are thoughts that run through my mind as my host, Peyton, laughs and giggles as a baby no idea what I have done to her body for the rest of her life. If you’re wondering what has happened, I am a x chromosome, but part of me is missing, causing Peyton to have Turner Syndrome. As a baby it is not noticeable but as she gets older, the harder and harder it will be for her to fit in. She has a number of moles on her body which shouldn’t be a problem, she won’t be much taller than 5 foot, her body will be under develop, if you look closely you can see the faint hairs on the back of her neck that will someday get longer, and her poor ovaries, they might not produce eggs, therefore she won’t be able to have kids. I have ruined her life. That is all I can think of at the moment, can doctors fix this?

Peyton is now 15, she has struggled through school fitting in, usually the shortest, and now in high school, being underdeveloped. Doctors luckily caught her syndrome at a young age, giving her medication that doesn’t fix exactly what I have done but have helped her grow and it is estimated that she should reach the average height of a full grown female. She hasn’t started the treatment that helps her menstrual flow and breast develop for her family doesn’t have the money to keep this treatment going. Her friends have accepted her for who she is. They always laugh together and her height is usually joked about, laughing at how short she is in pictures, but late at night I can hear her sobbing away “Why can’t I be like normal girls?” She would say, only making me feel worse for what has happened.

High school has been tough, Peyton made it through with some bullying from that group of girls that will do anything to hurt someone. She tried to keep it a secret but it got out. People made fun of her height mostly but luckily at around 16, the treatment kicked in and she grew quite a bit making her 5’4 which is a decent height that no one can really make fun of her. Because of the syndrome she got a lot of ear infections in her early childhood life resulting in hearing loss. Peyton has to ear hearing aids to help hear in class. To hide these from her classmates she would normally wear her hair down but once it was seen, the teasing never stopped. Although she went through this awful process, people were still jealous because she didn’t her period, while other girls suffered through horrible “once a months.”

Peyton now 28 and married wants a child. Her husband wanting one, but Peyton knowing she can’t have one. The two of them go to the doctors asking is they can do anything about it, luckily there is a treatment they can try, it’s called  in vitro fertilization. The doctor goes through the process, ” A donor egg will be used to create an embryo which will get placed into your womb. You will have to make sure to have supportive care and take really good of your baby and then you can deliver the baby normally.” Peyton’s face brightness her smile bigger than ever. Her husband, Jason, is super happy, they can’t wait to have this procedure.

10 months later, after the paper work, a donor gave an egg and nine months of pregnancy Peyton delivers a healthy baby  girl named Ella. Luckily Turner syndrome is a chromosomal mutation and not a gene mutation so it can’t be passed down to offspring, but Ella is still tested for it just in case. They couldn’t have done it any slower, the results are killing me. A few hours later the nurse comes and delivers the good news that Ella does not have turner syndrome.

It was  hard life for Peyton but she had a fun life too, she had amazing friends and the wonderful technology of our society has lead to Peyton being able to have a child, and when she was born, this wouldn’t have even been thought of.

 

 

Part 2: The Making of Mutation Story

• What questions did you need to research in order to create your mutation story?

what is turner syndrome? how does turner syndrome affect the host? Do girls with turner syndrome get their period? Treatment of turner syndrome?

• What new or familiar digital tools did you try to use as you worked through this project?

I just looked up information using certain questions to guide my research and made notes that would later guide my story writing. I then wrote my story in a Microsoft document because I find it less likely to glitch and then posted it onto my edublog.

• What was the process you used to investigate the topic?

I made notes and answered all the questions on the criteria sheet. Then I made a simple layout of my story, then filled in all the detail

• How did you verify and cite the information you found?

I looked on multiply websites to double check the info and if the info didn’t match i didn’t use it. and then cited the information on cite machine

Turner Syndrome. (n.d.). Retrieved January 12, 2016, from http://kidshealth.org/teen/diseases_conditions/genetic/turner.html#

Learning about Turner Syndrome. (n.d.). Retrieved January 12, 2016, from https://www.genome.gov/19519119

Common treatments for Turner Syndrome. (n.d.). Retrieved January 12, 2016, from https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/turner/conditioninfo/Pages/treatment.aspx

 

• How did the process of completing this challenge go? What could you have done better?

This challenge was pretty good. I enjoyed it. The researching was fun and very interesting, I liked how we presented the information. I probably could have added some more detail into my story about the mutation but overall I think I did a pretty good job on this project because I enjoyed doing it.