Some of the genetic conditions are caused by alterations (also called as variants/mutations).

Two primary factors that influence the chances of a person to inherit a genetic disorder are:

• When one copy of the mutated gene is passed down by either of the parents
• When two copies are passed down from both parents

Inherited Patterns: There are patterns to how these genetic variants are inherited and distributed in families. Understanding these patterns is crucial to predicting disease risk in family members of an affected individual.

Some of the patterns of inheritance in humans include the following:

• Autosomal dominant
• Autosomal recessive
• X-linked dominant
• X-linked recessive