Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Department

Biology

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

Non-communicable disease (NCD), in particular cardiovascular disease, is a significant problem in developing countries. Essential hypertensions (EH) is a leading risk factor for vascular disease and while managing EH in developing countries is considered a high global priority, few studies exist from third world populations. From a cohort of Kenyans living in the Kasigau region, we have investigated the allele frequency of a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) previously reported to correlate with salt-sensitive EH. The SNP being investigated is aldosterone synthase CYP11B2 C344T (rs1799998), a polymorphism in the renin-angiotensin system (RAS). The C344T polymorphism is located in the promoter region of CYP11B2 and affects the production of aldosterone. In this study the overall allele frequency of T=0.81 and C=0.19, and the genotype frequency was T/T=0.66, T/C=0.30, and C/C=0.04 for the total Kasigau population in this study. There was no significant variance in blood pressure among any of the three genotype.

Advisor(s) or Committee Chair

Dr. Nancy Rice

Disciplines

Biology

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Biology Commons

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