A rare genetic disorder can be traced to early settlers in Quebec and their European ancestors according to a new study.
Researchers have identified 16 people from Eastern Quebec of French descent who have Chronic Atrial and Intestinal Dysrhythmia. The disorder, also called CAID syndrome, is a combination of heart arrhythmia and intestinal obstruction.
Researchers have found that all patients are carriers of one common mutation in a gene related to the cohesin protein involved in cell division.
Further gene analysis identified a couple, married in France in 1620, as the founders of the genetic disorder in North America, with an out-of-Scandinavia origin of the mutation in the 12th century.
Original research paper published in Nature Genetics on October 5, 2014.
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