Thursday, July 14, 2005

What do the genes do?

In my last post, I asked the question: "What do the genes (linked to PDS) do to predispose the brain to stuttering?"

I think this is a very important question. Finding the chromosome location or genes as such is interesting, but not directly relevant to the mechanism of PDS and not the end of the story. What is more important is to see which functions these genes or combinations of genes have. In this way, we might know more what sets the PDS brain apart.

The evidence really conclusively points towards the fact that PDS has a genetic component (at least in some people with PDS), and that these people will be far more likely to start stuttering if they have certain genes. This suggests that there is something physically wrong in the PDS brain, as genes are physical objects and they create proteins. And this defficiency often leads to PDS. But then, I would conclude that if a defficiency leads to PDS, it does not necessarily need to arise from bad genes, but could also be a developmental problem. In the sense, if you build a house, the construction plan could be wrong (the genes), or something during the construction phase went wrong (low skilled workers, too much rain, minor earthquake, illness by key worker, etc.). This would be a general principle for many diseases: if genetics predisposes to a disorder, this disorder can happen non-genetically as well.This leads me to the conclusion that if genes can predispose to PDS, there is very likely also the possibility that a developmental problem could create the same.

So, I am now more or less convinced that there are indeed subtypes. The one with genetic baggage and the one who had a problem during development. And of course, a combination might be true. This would fit with Per Alm's observation that either the people with PDS have a family history or they had developmental problems like ADHD.

1 comment:

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