Replies

mosaicism (mo·sa·i·cism) (mo-za´ĭ-siz-əm) in genetics, the presence in an individual of two or more cell lines that are karyotypically or genotypically distinct and are derived from a single zygote. Cf. chimerism.

gonadal m. mosaicism that results from mosaicism within the gonad so that some of the germ cells are mutants. More than one offspring of a gonadal mosaic for a dominant trait may show the trait although it is not manifested in the parent.

I worked in with cyclic neutropenia back from 1978 to 1982. There was a family nearby that had three sons affected with the disease and it was disheartening to watch these boys' lives ebb away from them as the entered puberty. Their wbc counts would drop below 1000/cu mm every 21 days and they would develop severe infections. We had canines that had the same genetic disease and their cycles were on a 13 day interval. The kidneys would develop amyloidosis and the dogs would die from uncontrollable infections that defied antibiotics. Unfortunately, I watched the three boys pass on because at that time anything we used on the dogs didn't work either. The disease is called Grey Collie Syndrome because the cyclic neutropenia is linked to the hair coat gene in the dog.