Consanguinity Marriage and Inbreeding | 26 Nov 2024
In Uppada coast villages in Andhra Pradesh, consanguineous marriages are causing conditions like cerebral palsy, Dandy-Walker Malformation (DWM), albinism, and other deformities.
- A consanguineous marriage is a union between two people who are related by blood, usually as second cousins or closer.
- It is different from incestuous marriages (a marriage between direct descendants like between father and daughter, mother and son, brother and sister).
- Practices like the ‘Voni’ promise, an oral agreement made at a girl’s birth, enforce consanguinity in the above case.
- Inbreeding is the genetic outcome of consanguineous marriage. Inbreeding increases the degree of homozygosity to the offspring and also the expression of recessive traits.
- In homozygosity, an individual inherits the same alleles for a particular gene from both parents leading to genetic disorders.
- Alleles are different versions of the same gene. E.g., the gene for eye colour may have alleles for blue, brown, or green eyes.
- In homozygosity, an individual inherits the same alleles for a particular gene from both parents leading to genetic disorders.
- Inbreeding increases the genetic load. Genetic load measures the rate of damage caused by the presence of certain deleterious or disadvantaged genes in the population.
- The Hindu Marriage Act prohibits Sapindas marriage between two Hindus unless there is an established custom.
- A sapinda marriage involves individuals who share a specific degree of familial closeness.