What is a FOUNDER GENE?

A Founder mutation in BRCA-1 is pretty common. These are mutations presumably originating from a single ancestor within a historically isolated ethnic group, having been identified in several populations such as the Askhenazi Jews, the Icelandic peoples, certain Poles, the Japanese, the Italians, the Swedes, and the Dutch. An example is the 185delAG mutation in individuals of Ashkenazi Jewish decent.

I find this list useful for info on specific mutations:

http://mutview.dmb.med.keio.ac.jp/MutationView/jsp/mutview/html/brca1.html

It's not much, but it's something.

Lisa

BRCA1+