Bearded Lady

A rare genetic abnormality in the chromosome 17 was the cause of the sickness which affected Julia Pastrana, the bearded woman, according to the discovery by Chinese scientists, who presented their investigation results in the magazine 'American Journal of Human Genetics'.

Pastrana (1834-1860) suffered terminal hypertrophies, an illness which causes to produce disorder of growth of black hair on all parts of the body and distortion of facial features.

She was born in Mexico in the Indian community and was sold, possibly by her mother, to Theodor Lent, who taught her to play music and dance, to exhibit her in America and Europe, in spectacles 'The bearded & hairy lady'. He ended up marrying her and they had a baby with the same mysterious and unfortunate characteristics. Mother and child died just a few days after the birth. That didn't impede Therdor Lent continue to put them both on exhibition after they had been mummified.

The Chinese scientists identified 3 families affected by the same disease and, after comparing the genomes of the sick with their families that were healthy, had discovered that the key problem lies in the small region of the chromosome 17. The people affected all had parts of the genomes eliminated.

It was announced by the Chinese Academy of Medical Science that further study is necessary to clarify the mechanism of the exact molecules for which the alteration had caused this rare disease.

Tags:medicalscience beardedlady

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