The PKU treatment center will decide if a special diet is needed. Genes are responsible for your characteristics, such as eye color and height. Genes are also responsible for instructing the cells in the liver to make the enzyme that changes PHE to tyrosine. When the gene responsible for making this enzyme is altered, Mild Hyperphe occurs. Below is a simple illustration of how the altered gene was passed from your grandparents to your parents and to you.
Genes are units of inheritance found in body cells.
Genes come in pairs in your cells with each parent contributing one gene to the pair in each cell. Generation I represents the possible genetic makeup of your grandparents. One of your maternal grandparents and one of your paternal grandparents are carriers of the Mild Hyperphe gene. One in 70 persons are carriers of the Mild Hyperphe gene. Generation II represents your parents both of whom are carriers of the Mild Hyperphe gene.