Genetics Error in "The Man in the High Castle" Season 2?
I�ve just finished watching season 2 of Amazon video�s terrifying The Man in the High Castle, which depicts an alternate reality in which Germany and Japan won the second world war, with an atomic bomb taking out Washington, DC. I admit confusion over gaping plot holes and teasers, but I did catch enough of the dialog to suspect that genetic info about one of the families is wrong.
Thomas Smith, adolescent son of Obergruppenf�hrer John Smith, has a form of muscular dystrophy. According to a footnote in Wikipedia, it is Landouzy-Dejerine syndrome, which I hadn�t heard of by that name but recognized its name today, facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD). It is autosomal dominant � if you have it, so does or did one of your parents, unless you're a new mutation (about 30 percent of cases).
In a 10-second scene in the final episode, we learn that John Smith�s uncle had the disease, and that his two daughters must be carriers.
Well, no.
A dominant condition doesn�t have carriers. You have the mutation or you don't, although symptoms may occur later in life, in which case a person with the mutation is pre-manifest, not a carrier in the classic sense. Since Tom�s uncle had it too, presumably before the State murdered him, and the condition is rare, it must be inherited, not due to a new mutation. I can only reconcile these facts if John Smith has the mutation too but is non-penetrant � meaning he has the genotype but not the phenotype. I wonder what the Nazis, obsessed with purifying the gene pool, would do with that intel! Plus, Thomas has what appears to be seizures and he trips � not the upper body weakness of the disease.
I suppose the writers chose FSHD because it isn�t horrible, making it more horrible that the Nazis exterminate those who have it. When Thomas realizes that he�s not healthy, he mutters the mantras �I�m a useless eater� and �I'm defective.�
I won�t spoil the ending. But can anyone explain an inheritance pattern that has carriers and non-penetrance? Meanwhile, maybe the new showrunner for season 3 will take a genetics course.
Thomas Smith, adolescent son of Obergruppenf�hrer John Smith, has a form of muscular dystrophy. According to a footnote in Wikipedia, it is Landouzy-Dejerine syndrome, which I hadn�t heard of by that name but recognized its name today, facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD). It is autosomal dominant � if you have it, so does or did one of your parents, unless you're a new mutation (about 30 percent of cases).
In a 10-second scene in the final episode, we learn that John Smith�s uncle had the disease, and that his two daughters must be carriers.
Well, no.
A dominant condition doesn�t have carriers. You have the mutation or you don't, although symptoms may occur later in life, in which case a person with the mutation is pre-manifest, not a carrier in the classic sense. Since Tom�s uncle had it too, presumably before the State murdered him, and the condition is rare, it must be inherited, not due to a new mutation. I can only reconcile these facts if John Smith has the mutation too but is non-penetrant � meaning he has the genotype but not the phenotype. I wonder what the Nazis, obsessed with purifying the gene pool, would do with that intel! Plus, Thomas has what appears to be seizures and he trips � not the upper body weakness of the disease.
I suppose the writers chose FSHD because it isn�t horrible, making it more horrible that the Nazis exterminate those who have it. When Thomas realizes that he�s not healthy, he mutters the mantras �I�m a useless eater� and �I'm defective.�
I won�t spoil the ending. But can anyone explain an inheritance pattern that has carriers and non-penetrance? Meanwhile, maybe the new showrunner for season 3 will take a genetics course.
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