You are an MD/PhD student studying left-right lateralitydefects in humans. You are monitoring a pregnancy in which theheart and stomach are positioned on the incorrect side of the body,while the rest of the organs are positioned normally.
a) [2pts] What would be the name of this type ofvisceral organ defect?
You are able to perform corrected surgery on the infantsoon after birth. You perform a genetic analysis and discover thischild had a mutation in a stretch activated calciumchannel.
b) [2pts] What are the normal roles of stretch activatedcalcium channels?
c) [4pts] Why might this mutation cause the left-rightlaterality defects you observed?
d) [4pts] Assuming that mouse and humanleft-right patterning are achieved through similar mechanisms whatwould you predict Nodal expression in the LPM would have lookedlike in this human patient during early development? Explain yourthinking.
