What is molecular genetic testing?
Molecular genetic testing is a form of analysis of a person’s DNA to determine if he/she harbors specific mutations that have been associated with a disease. A change in a gene, known as a mutation, can cause that gene not to work properly. One virtue of genetic testing is that DNA can be extracted from cells that are found in a blood sample. Expensive and invasive techniques need not be used to obtain a DNA sample. All of the constituents of a person’s body are determined by DNA, which is contained within the chromosomes of every cell and is passed on from parents to children. Genes are sections of the DNA that are the basic units of heredity and occur in pairs. One member of each pair is inherited from each parent. Minor variations in the thousands of genes that make up a person determine the individual characteristics of that person, e.g. eye color or hair color. For some genes the function is known with certainty and for others it is not. What is malignant hyperthermia (MH)? MH is
