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Anastas LAKOVSKI

THE MEANING OF GENOMIC IMPRINTING IN HUMAN GENETIC AND DEFECTOLOGY

Several genetic phenomena do not appear to conform the Mendel's low in the sense that they are not inherited in simple way through the generations. Such exceptions to Mendel's laws include new mutations, changes in chromosomes, expanded triplet sequences, and genomic imprinting. Many genetic diseases involve spontaneous mutations that are not inherited from generation to generation. Changes in chromosomes include nondisjunction, which is the most important cause of mental retardation, the trisomy of Dowen syndrome. Expanded triplet repeats are responsible for the next important cause of mental retardation, fragile X, and for Huntington's disease. Genomic imprinting occurs when the expression of a gene depends on whether it is inherited from the mother or from the father. In this paper the phenomenon of genomic imprinting is explained on the occurrence of Angelman and Prader-Willi syndromes. It's essential for the counselor to be able during the genetic counseling to recognize this phenomenon and to make a proper decision.