Science Buzz A teenager with a genetic disorder is suing the sperm bank that provided her mother with the sperm that helped conceive her, claiming the original product was faulty. She's hoping to hold the sperm bank accountable for giving her something called Fragile X Syndrome. It's both comfortable and gross to think about sperm as a product that can be held liable.
fragilex.org
newscientist.com
blogs.wsj.com
blog.farhadmanjoo.com
“It's both comfortable and gross to think about sperm as a product that can be held liable.”
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I feel that we should all be “comfortable” when discussing sperm. I'm just kidding. I noticed the typo while reading the article! Interesting.
It's reasonable that the father was the contributor, although the father most likely did not have full Fragile X syndrome, he was probably a premutation carrier. FXS is caused by a genetic mutation where a CGG repeat extends past 200 repeats (normally it's less than 45). But some people have a CGG repeat between 55-200, that usually makes them appear otherwise “normal” (but are often affected by emotional problems and are at risk of developing a condition called FXTAS when they're older), however when they pass their X chromosome to their offspring, the repeat can expand to +200 - thus, their offspring develops full Fragile X. This sperm bank definitely should have screened their donors for the premutation, judging from this, this situation definitely seems like it had a legit case in court.
Yes, and it's even rare for a girl to have Fragile X since she has another X that makes up for the defective one. I just read that genetic testing showed the biological father to be the one who contributed the fragile X, so this is just a weird case all around. But that's science for you.
Girls receive two X chromosomes - one from their mother and one from their father (XX). Fathers can therefore pass the gene to their daughters, but not sons (since sons get a Y chromosome from their father and a X chromosome from their mother).
It's Fragile X! It's usually inherited from the mother, since the X in the name refers to the X chromosome. So, the sperm (XY chromosomes) usually contribute little to the condition. I haven't read much about the story, but I would venture to guess that it's inherited from the mom.
Fragile X is physically and developmentally manifested, and the males are often sterile, so I find it hard to believe a sperm bank would let someone who shows signs of a handicap donate, and if they did, that the sperm would be viable.
If the mom's been tested, though, and is clear for being a carrier, then I suppose the girl would be justified in suing the sperm bank. However, it just seems unlikely.
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