Polycystic kidney disease

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Autosomal recessive inheritance pattern

Illustration of autosomal recessive inheritance pattern

In an autosomal recessive disorder, the mutated gene is recessive, which means it won't express its trait when paired with a normal, dominant gene. To have an autosomal recessive disorder, you inherit two mutated genes — one from each parent. Most often, these disorders are passed on by two carriers. Their health is rarely affected, but they have one mutated gene (recessive gene) and one normal gene (dominant gene) for the condition. Two carriers have a 25 percent chance of having an unaffected child with two normal genes (left), a 50 percent chance of having an unaffected child who also is a carrier (middle), and a 25 percent chance of having an affected child with two recessive genes (right). These chances are the same in each pregnancy.

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