Mutation story:
Part 1:
It was a normal day. I was just a gene, getting along with all of the other genes on our DNA strand. But, then, that day, my life was changed forever! The worst thing that could’ve happened to me, happened. It was every gene’s worst nightmare…I became a mutated gene! Basically, what happened was my DNA strand didn’t get copied properly, and I was the unlucky victim that this affected. The error in the DNA replication resulted in my deletion, meaning I didn’t exist on the DNA strand I was supposed to. The molecule RNA was supposed to copy all of the information off of my DNA strand, but thanks to its mistake I was left behind. But what I forgot to mention was that I was the most important gene-I was a DMD gene. My job would have been to make specific instructions for a protein called dystrophin, which helps stabilize muscle fibers. So since I couldn’t leave the nucleus, I really couldn’t help my host in any way, and they lacked the dystrophin that their body needs.
This mistake didn’t leave a good impact on my host, sadly. I was a negative mutation. My mutation caused him to fall very often, to be very clumsy, for his calf muscles to be enlarged, difficulty to stand up. I put him at risk for cardiomyopathy, and made his lungs weaker. He has weak thighs, weak stomach muscles, and a swayed back. All of this was a result of him lacking dystrophin, so his muscles didn’t work like they should have.
This made his life different. By age 12, he was put in a wheelchair because his muscles just weren’t doing well enough to support his weight. He’s 20 now, and at I’m really worried about him because there’s no treatment for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy yet. But, he’s strong and I’m hoping he still has a lot of time left. The life expectancy for people like him is getting higher and higher! Some men live up to even 50, which is a lot more than the original expectancy was. My only hope is that he will live a good, full life and he won’t let my mutation stop him from doing great things.
Part 2:

My questions: How does a gene get deleted? How does a mutated gene cause DMD? What is DMD? What are the symptoms of DMD? What is the life expectancy for people with DMD? How does someone get DMD?

Mostly I used Google for this project, but a used a Youtube video as well.
My process was to first find out the general information about Muchenne Muscular Dystrophy, and then find out how it is caused, and then narrow it down to the actual gene mutation and how it is caused.
To cite information, I wrote down the names/links of any sources I used, and I knew most of them were credible because they were organization or government-run websites.
The process of completing it was kind of hard at first because there was so much information (some of which I didn’t understand), but the more I researched it the easier it became to sort out the info. Also, I found that using different sources helped because each site had the same information, just worded differently. What I could have done better was start earlier because I found that I was more stressed out because I did it later, and so if I started earlier maybe it would have been better quality work. Also, I would’ve specified some things with my teacher because I wasn’t clear on some aspects of the project.

My sources: study.com/academy/lesson/deletion-mutation-definition-examples-diseases-html

ghr.nlm.gov/condition/duchenne-and-beckermuscular-dystrophy

mda.org/disease/duchenne-muscular-dystrophy/signs-and-symptoms

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/duchenne_muscular_dystrophy