BLUE PEOPLE OF KENTUCKY

We’re not talking about...

• The smurfs

• Clinically depressed people

• Fans of B.B. King

• The Blue Man Group

Ingesting elemental silver can also turn the skin blue. This man, Paul Karason, rubbed colloidal

silver on his face and skin many years ago to treat a skin condition, which made him slowly turn a

bluish/grey color.

WHO ARE THEY?

The "Blue People" are descendents of Martin Fugate, who suffered from a recessive gene which limits or stopsthe production of the enzyme diaphorase.

• The lack of this enzyme gives people a blueish cast to their skin rather than pink.

• Few people still have this gene.

Researchers

• Trudging up and down the hollows, fending off "the two mean dogs that everyone had in their front yard," the doctor and the nurse would spot someone at the top of a hill who looked blue and take off in wild pursuit. By the time they'd get to the top, the person would be gone.

Fugate FamilyFather + 4 children are blue

Luna Fugate and John Stacey

• Lorenzo Dow Fugate and Eleanor Fugate. Lorenzo Dow was also know as "Blue Anze"

Of Lonesome Creek, Kentucky

In Hazard, the County Seat

What makes them blue?

• Methemoglobinemia• Red blood cells (RBC) from blue people are

deficient in NADH diaphorase activity and cannot reduce the oxidized iron in methemoglobin (metHb).

Symptoms

• Blue colored skin

• Headaches

• Fatigue

• Coma

• Death

Blue Lips

Degree of Blueness

• RBC from the parents of blue people (obligate heterozygotes for the blue trait - Bb) do contain some NADH diaphorase activity but not as much as homozygotes (BB) for the normal allele.

Let’s make a Pedigree

A chart of an individual's ancestors used in human genetics to analyze Mendelian inheritance of certain traits, especially of family diseases.

Found on WikiPedia: There is a mistake here. Can you find it?

bb Bb BB

Pedigree Symbols

More Pedigree Symbols

Blue Pedigree of Fugates

• = male with it

• = female with it

Pedigree of Fugates

• Can you work out the genotypes?

Pedigree with Genotypes

• trait visible

• carrier

Treatment

• The homozygous patient (bb)

• daily ingestion of ascorbic acid to increase non- enzymatic reduction of methemoglobin

• or the use of methylene blue.

Pedigree Animation

• Media Showcase: Pedigree

You Will Make a Pedigree of Your Own Family

GET INSTRUCTION SHEET

Choose a trait from the lab of Variation of a Human Face (the one you drew the face on)