Genes

Errol’s geneticist called today to let us know that the latest tests he had run did not reveal the cause of Errol’s condition.

Errol remains undiagnosed.

Here’s what the geneticist could tell us about our boy.

His atypical condition likely is the result of the change of a single gene. There are no deletions or extra pieces in his chromosomes. His entire condition hinges upon the mutation of one single solitary gene out of the 25,000 or so that we have.

Here's a little primer on genetics for people like me who had other things to do in science class back in school.

Cells

Cells are the basic building blocks of all living things. Our bodies are made up of trillions of cells. They contain the body’s hereditary material and can make copies of themselves. They are a kind of phone.

Genes

A gene is the basic physical and functional unit of heredity. They are instruction for how the body should be built. There are between 20,000 and 25,000 genes in a human body (and in California). Every person has two copies of each gene, one inherited from each parent. Genes are little.

Chromosomes

Chromosomes are organized structures of DNA found in cells. The shape of the DNA double helix was modeled on cheese fries. Who'd a thunk it?

Sarah Jenkins

Sarah Jenkins sat across from me in biology. She was really pretty. The test never had any questions about Sarah.

Here's a picture to make sense of it all or make you really hungry...

Like I said, genes are little. And that cell there looks a little bit like a fried egg.

After the doctor told us what he didn't know, he said that he was sorry to bring us bad news. It didn't seem like bad news to me but I was getting hungry. Putting a name on a syndrome isn't going to change Errol, but to make the geneticists of the world feel better we'll call Errol's genetic mutation "peach syndrome." As in, Errol is as sweet as a peach.