PBSC People with Alzheimers Disease and Other Forms of Dementia Discussion

Read and evaluate at least two of your peer’s postings and compose substantial in-depth responses for both. 

MARCOS- 

Over the past half-century, there has been a trend in the US and other countries for people to marry and start families later in life than did their parents and grandparents. What effect might this trend have on incidence (frequency) of late-acting dominant lethal alleles in population?

           Statistically having offspring with many genetic diseases increases with time so either they have less kids once they get older or are more likely to do genetic screening because of the likelihood of disease that are more common. When parents get more mature in age, they are more likely to be exhibiting symptoms of diseases like, “difficulty concentrating, memory lapses, depression – including low mood, a lack of interest in things, feelings of hopelessness, stumbling, clumsiness, mood swings, such as irritability or aggressive behavior” https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/huntingtons-disease/symptoms/. These are a few symptoms that can show up but later in their lives. Which cause some people to have less kids if they are aware of a genetic disease they carry.

• TATIANA- 

When reading this question, my main thought is that as people get older, they will see the symptoms of the lethal alleles before they have children and might not live long enough to have children. If they choose to marry later and consequently, they do not live long enough to have the children one can make a natural selection argument. Since they did not survive long enough to reproduce (in this case waiting to have children until later in life then dying before they can), the frequency of the lethal alleles should decrease. The incidence of the lethal alleles should decrease (if these individuals start to see the impacts of the alleles and choose not to have children or die prior to having children) in the same way that certain traits and characteristics of the Galapagos finches’ beaks change when food supply changes. The process is the same even when talking about these very different alleles. The food supply caused the evolution, through natural selection, of the beaks of the different species of finches (How Finches Helped Darwin Develop His Theory of Evolution, 2019) in the same way life style of humans ( in this case waiting to start families until later in life) will change the incidence of these lethal but late acting alleles. When the person dies or chooses not to have children because of the late onset of these alleles the incidence will change as a result of the person not reproducing and therefore not putting their late acting lethal allele into the next generation of the population.ReferencesHow Finches Helped Darwin Develop His Theory of Evolution. (2019, June 26). ThoughtCo. Retrieved June 10, 2022, from https://www.thoughtco.com/charles-darwins-finches-…