A man who smokes heavily has developed lung cancer. The tobacco smoke has caused mutations in some of the cells in his lungs, making them unable to stop reproducing and dividing. He is worried that his children, none of whom smoke, may have inherited the lung cancer from him. Under what circumstances might his concern for his children be justified?

Question

anonymous · Answer

a. If he inherited a mutation which made him more susceptible to lung cancer, it may have been present in some of the gametes he produced and passed to his children.
b. If his smoking had already mutated the DNA in the cells in his lungs at the time his children were conceived, the mutations would have been passed to his children.
c. If the mutation resulted from the duplication of a gene in his lung cells, his children would be at greater risk than if it were caused by a base pair substitution.
d. If the smoke had caused multiple different mutations in his lung cells, it would be more likely that one or more of the mutations would be passed to his children.

anonymous · Answer

i think its b, what do u think?

anonymous · Answer

Assuming that the his children were already conceived at the time of when the mutations occurred (according to the wording of the question this should be the case), the best answer should be A. 

Hereditary conditions can only be transmitted through gametes, mutations are not usually infectious when it comes to cancer.

In the case of B, the mutations have to be in the gametes in order to be transmittable to his children, being in the lungs is not enough to become inherited.

anonymous · Answer

well what is the question saying, im not getting it?

anonymous · Answer

well since the question said non of his children are smokers, I assumed that they were already have been born

anonymous · Answer

i just want to know if they are asked to support the fathers reasoning to think they are harmed or to opposed?

anonymous · Answer

A is the good answer if that's what you're asking, only if his father has gametes which are more susceptible to mutation for lung cancer can be passed on then his doubt can be justified

anonymous · Answer

ok thank u, i understand now, i need help with my question please, its the one after this