Saturday Genetics Quiz #45: Creating a Family Pedigree
Earlier this week, I talked about the Bradfield family whose members experienced a higher than average rate of stomach cancer. For them, being able to see the inheritance of cancer across generations as charted in a family pedigree spoke volumes. There’s no better way to keep a record of your family’s health history than by drawing a family pedigree. So, this week’s genetics quiz question is:
What do the various symbols–circles, squares, hash marks–on a family pedigree mean?
Answer:
I’m going to borrow this from the National Society of Genetic Counselors. (Click for a larger image.)
The NSGC also has information on how to collect a family history.
Technorati Tags: family history, family tree, pedigree, genetics, genes, dna, disease, health
Great choice of diagrams! There are many tools out there for family health history diagrams, including one from the Genetic Alliance and another from the Utah Department of Health.
For those intimidated by the number of symbols available, the NIH site offers a relatively simple family health history module where the results store on your own computer. Although you lose the availability of predictions and comparisons to genetic databases, you keep the information private.
Marie Godfrey, PhD
Marie: Thanks! When I started poking around, I saw lots of software available too. Very cool. Brings back fond memories of a summer spent coding family data on ovarian and breast cancer.
it is so not important!!!!!!!!!!!!!!