Question

The Talmud permitted a father with hemophilia to have his son circumcised. Would this preclude all possible problems? a. yes-because the father cannot pass on the trait b. yes-if the mother did not carry the trait (heterozygous) c. yes-if the mother was not X b X b (homozygous)

Answer 1

Answer:

b yes-if the mother did not carry the trait (heterozygous) AND c yes-if the mother was not X b X b (homozygous)

Explanation:

Hemophilia is an X linked condition that causes abnormal bleeding due to a failure of the blood to clot. Because it is X linked, males only need to carry 1 allele to have the disease.

A father with hemophilia would have the genotype X b Y. However, since the son will also be XY, he must have passed on his Y chromosome, and the son must have got his X from this mother.

Therefore, there should not be any problems with abnormal bleeding following a circumcision.

However, this is only true if we assume the mother does not carry the trait. If one or two of her X chromosomes has the b allele (i.e. if she is a heterozygous carrier or homozygous for the trait), then the son could inherit the trait.