Some huge breakthroughs are likely in the near future as mechanisms of random or selected monoallelic expression are unraveled.
There are a lot of diseases with incomplete penetrance, that should be semi-Mendelian but even when they are modeled as a complex genetic system, the results make no sense. However, if monoallelic expression is considered it might go a long way to explaining why two people can have the same genetic makeup, but a different phenotype. Unfortunately it means phenotype can be determined by a cosmic dice roll on a drum head. The upside is the treatment for lots of chronic illnesses (like Type 2 Diabetes and some vascular disease) could be as simple as changing which copy is expressing. If you are reading this and you are with drug company you probably know how to do this already. If not, well you know how to reach me.
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