Study the pedigree chart given below: [figure] What does it show?
- Inheritance of a recessive sex-linked disease like haemophilia
- Inheritance of a sex-linked inborn error of metabolism like phenylketonuria
- The pedigree chart is wrong as this is not possible
- Inheritance of a condition like phenylketonuria as an autosomal recessive trait
Answer
(4) Inheritance of a condition like phenylketonuria as an autosomal recessive trait
Solution
Unaffected parents in generation I have an affected son and an affected daughter, so the trait is recessive and both parents are carriers.
An affected daughter from an unaffected father rules out X-linked recessive inheritance, because her father would then have to be affected.
In generation III, unaffected parents again have an affected son, so both of them are carriers.
∴ The trait is autosomal recessive, like phenylketonuria (PKU is an autosomal recessive inborn error of metabolism, not sex-linked).
Answer: (4)