Mutation Story by: Jimmy Wang
It is the birth of a new baby boy and we as genes are giving traits to the boy. Here are
some details about me before I get to the story of my unhealthy life. I work at the immunity
system department and I am found on the X chromosome, which is mostly found on boys. I was
supposed to be a normal happy gene, but instead I got mutated and became something
horrible. Originally my job was to encode proteins for the IL2RG receptor which helps the
fighter T cell and B lymphocytes to work together.
Source:
http://www.newbornscreening.info/images/SCID_small.jpg
You see while I was being made something went horribly wrong with the DNA I carry.
Mutating me and making me into a monster. The cause of my mutation was from the mother
having a copy of the defective gene without knowing about it. The reason it didn’t affect her is
because females have two copies of the X chromosome, so if one is defective they have another
one to rely on. Unlike males who only have one, so that’s why it couldn’t have been the father.
If it was, he would have died by now as he wouldn’t be able to survive the diseases he would’ve
got.
Source:
http://www.newbornscreening.info/Parents/Images/X-Linked%20Recessive%20Flatten.jpg
Oh, all the horrible things I have witnessed in his body and the things that I caused all
create a scar on me to this day. The first few months of his birth he got a horrible sinus
infection. I did my best to address the T and B cells but nothing in me worked, I felt useless all I
could was watch the child suffer. A few months later the child got a serious case of chronic
diarrhea. Though it may not be life threatening it wasn’t a pretty scene in his body, nor was it
for his parents. Finally, when he got diagnosed with pneumonia, that’s when the parents got a
red flag and knew something was wrong. So they toke him to the doctors and the doctor
managed to find me the sole mutated gene. I felt ashamed as I was the blame for the suffering.
If there was a way to cease myself away from existence I would’ve done it by now. As I longer
had a purpose to live.
Source : http://www.adagen.com/images/charts/chart-Be-Sure.jpg
Luckily the doctors know how to get rid of me and cure the poor boy. The doctor
proposed two options stem cell transplant or gene therapy. The parents took a while to decide
and made a decision to use the gene therapy method. So the doctor took the baby into a dark
room and started taking the bad cells out including me. Once I was taken out I felt happy as I’m
no longer hurting the child. I saw a group of healthy cells being put into the boy’s body. The
operation was successful and the boy has a now healthy immune system.
Which bring me now to the present where I act as a test subject for scientists to test
vaccines on. So far no vaccines have been found, but I have heard that they may have
developed one that can change me back to a healthy gene. Either way I’m happy with the life I
got, as I have found a purpose in my life again!