Question

Ccr5 is a cell surface receptor protein of white blood cells that attracts them to specific tissue and organs to elicit an immune response. it is also the receptor to which r5 strains of hiv bind to and enter t cells. between 5-14% of people from northern european descent possess an allele known as ccr5-δ32. in this allele, a 32 base pair section of the gene has been deleted. what phenotype would you predict for people carrying the ccr5-δ32 allele?

Answer 1

People carrying the CCR5-δ32 allele, because of their 32-base-pair deletion, have a premature stop codon into the CCR5 receptor. This means that individuals that are homozygous for CCR5-δ32 do not express functional CCR5 receptors on their cell surfaces and thus, will have impaired immune function. Also, those individuals are resistant to HIV infection as a result of that.