BUZZ: “It's both comfortable and gross to think about sperm as a product that can be held liable.” ______________________________________________________ I feel that we should all be “comfortable” when discussing sperm. I'm just kidding. I noticed the typo while reading the article! Interesting.

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BUZZ: 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.

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BUZZ: 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.

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BUZZ: 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).

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BUZZ: 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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