Visual communication aid: Autosomal dominant inheritance

There is one communication aid available to view and download (.pdf) for this topic:

• Autosomal dominant inheritance: one affected parent

Double-sided printing in colour is recommended (but not required). All content is also included below in an accessible format.

More information about this and other VCAs is available in this article.

We all have over 20,000 genes, which provide instructions for how our body works.​ Our genes are packaged into structures called chromosomes.​ We all have two copies of each of our autosomal genes, one inherited from each of our parents. Individuals affected by an autosomal dominant condition have a change on one of their two copies of the gene.​

If someone with an autosomal dominant condition has a child, they will pass on either the copy of the gene with the change or the copy without the change.​ This is random for each pregnancy.​

This means:

• For every pregnancy, there is a 50% (1 in 2) chance that they will have a child affected with the same condition. ​
• First-degree relatives of someone with an autosomal dominant condition have a 50% (1 in 2) chance of having the same condition (figure 1).

Some autosomal dominant conditions have later onset, meaning they only affect people in adulthood.​

Figure 1: Autosomal dominant inheritance where one parent is affected with the condition

• Autosomal genes: ​These genes are located on chromosomes that are not sex chromosomes.​
• First-degree relative:​ These are your parents, full siblings and children.
• Gene change:​ Changes in a gene or chromosome used to be referred to as ‘mutations’. Now, they are more commonly called changes, alterations or variants.​

For patients

• NHS England Genomics Education Programme: Autosomal dominant inheritance animation