Genetics
What are genetics?
Genetics means the different traits and qualities you get from your parents. Each cell in the human body has about 25.000 to 35.000 genes, which carry information that help determine the different traits you are going to have. Traits are characteristics you inherit from your parents; meaning that your parents give you all of the traits you have. For example, if both of your parents have blue eyes, you might have blue eyes because of them. Or if your mom has freckles, you might have freckles too because of the genes she passed on to you.
This Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is X-linked. To break it down: everybody has two chromosomes. For a male the chromosomes are XY and a female chromosomes are XX. Because this is an X-linked condition, you get it from your mother because your dad can not give you the condition. 2/3 of cases, an affected male inherits the mutation from his mother, who carries one altered copy of the DMD gene. The other 1/3 of cases the gene did not affect the male and is not inherited.