Week 2 Discussion Topic: Birth Defects and Pedigree
The discussion assignment provides a forum for discussing relevant topics for this week based on the course competencies covered. For this assignment, make sure you post your initial response to the Discussion Area by the due date assigned.
To support your work, use your course and text readings and also use outside sources. As in all assignments, cite your sources in your work and provide references for the citations in APA format.
Start reviewing and responding to the postings of your classmates as early in the week as possible. Respond to at least two of your classmates. Participate in the discussion by asking a question, providing a statement of clarification, providing a point of view with a rationale, challenging an aspect of the discussion, or indicating a relationship between two or more lines of reasoning in the discussion. Complete your participation for this assignment by the end of the week.
Birth Defects and Pedigree:
Jane Marlow is pregnant with her first baby. Along with explaining about genetic disorders, also explain to Marlow about certain habits of the mother that affect the growth of the fetus. Use the following questions as guidelines:

What are the adverse effects of using teratogens during pregnancy?
If a woman drinks or uses drugs during her pregnancy and it harms her growing fetus, do you think she should be held legally responsible for her actions? Why or why not?
Additionally, complete the following discussions:

Select a disease that exhibits pleiotropy or incomplete penetrance. How does the disease exhibit these characteristics? Can the severity of the disease be affected by families having these traits? If so, how? If not, why not?
Using Mendel’s laws, describe the phenotypic and genotypic ratios for the F2 generation if pea plants with restricted yellow pods are crossed with true-breeding inflated green pods in the original cross and then the F1 generation is crossed.