Tay Sachs Disease
Tay Sachs is a genetic disorder caused by the lack of Hexosaminidase, a protein used to break down fatty substances called Ganlioside (GM2) found in nerve tissue, the brain is a primary spot the build ups occurs. Tay Sachs is a recessive trait, only if both parents Carry the mutated hexA gene does the chance of one of the offspring to have this disease occur, if both parents are carriers on average a quarter of the children will posses the disease (see figure 1). Tay Sachs is life threatening and has 3 variants infantile, juvenile and adult onset determined by how quickly the disease manifests. Infantile TSD manifests between 3-10 months and causes death by the age of 5, Juvenile TSD occurs between 2 and 10 years old and gives the child a reduced life expectancy of only 15 years at best, the final Adult TSD is the most mild with symptoms occurring during the early twenty's with Hexosaminidase being produced in smaller amounts that normal humans negating the early death of the other onsets.
By Seth Faber and Austin Gundermann