Autosomal dominant inheritance pattern
Previous Next 3 of 6 Autosomal dominant inheritance pattern

In an autosomal dominant disorder, the abnormal (mutated) gene is located on one of the first 22 pairs of chromosomes (autosomes). You need only one copy of the abnormal gene to be affected by this type of disorder.

A person with an autosomal dominant disorder — in this case, the father — has a 50% chance of passing on the abnormal gene (and having an affected child) and a 50% chance of passing on the normal copy of the gene (and having an unaffected child) with every pregnancy.

Huntington's disease and Marfan syndrome are two examples of autosomal dominant disorders. Mutations to BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes — which have been associated with breast cancer — also are transmitted in this pattern.

From Mayo Clinic to your inbox

Sign up for free and stay up to date on research advancements, health tips, current health topics, and expertise on managing health. Click here for an email preview.

To provide you with the most relevant and helpful information, and understand which information is beneficial, we may combine your email and website usage information with other information we have about you. If you are a Mayo Clinic patient, this could include protected health information. If we combine this information with your protected health information, we will treat all of that information as protected health information and will only use or disclose that information as set forth in our notice of privacy practices. You may opt-out of email communications at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the e-mail.

See more Multimedia Feb. 15, 2020