As an autosomal recessive disorder, two PKU alleles are required for an individual to experience symptoms of the disease. For a child to inherit PKU, both the mother and father must have and pass on the defective gene. If both parents are carriers for PKU, there is a 25% chance any child they have will be born with the disorder, a 50% chance the child will be a carrier and a 25% chance the child will neither develop nor be a carrier for the disease.PKU is characterized by homozygous or compound heterozygous mutations in the gene for the hepatic enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH), rendering it nonfunctional. : 541  This enzyme is necessary to metabolize the amino acid phenylalanine (Phe) to the amino acid tyrosine (Tyr). When PAH activity is reduced, phenylalanine accumulates and is converted into phenylpyruvate (also known as phenylketone), which can be detected in the urine.Carriers of a single PKU allele do not exhibit symptoms of the disease but  appear to be protected to some extent against the fungal toxin ochratoxin A. This accounts for the persistence of the allele in certain populations in that it confers a selective advantage—in other words, being a heterozygote is advantageous.The PAH gene is located on chromosome 12 in the bands 12q22-q24.2. As of 2000, around 400 disease-causing mutations had been found in the PAH gene. This is an example of allelic genetic heterogeneity.
Genes conferring neomycin-resistance are commonly included in DNA plasmids used to establish stable mammalian cell lines expressing cloned proteins in culture. Many commercially available protein expression plasmids contain a neo-resistance gene as a selectable marker. Biosynthetic pathway
Neomycin was first isolated from the Streptomyces fradiae and Streptomyces albogriseus in 1949 (NBRC 12773). Neomycin is a mixture of neomycin B (framycetin); and its epimer neomycin C, the latter component accounting for some 5–15% of the mixture. It is a basic compound that is most active with an alkaline reaction. It is also thermostable and soluble in water (while insoluble in organic solvents). Neomycin has good activity against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, but is ototoxic. Its use is thus restricted to the oral treatment of intestinal infections.Neomycin B is composed of four linked moieties: D-neosamine, 2-deoxystreptamine (2-DOS), D-ribose, and L-neosamine. Neomycin A, also called neamine, contains D-neosamine and 2-deoxystreptamine. Six genes are responsible for neamine biosynthesis: DOIS gene (btrC, neo7); L-glutamine:DOI aminotransferase gene (btrS, neo6); a putative glycosyltransferase gene (btrM, neo8); a putative aminotransferase (similar to glutamate-1-semialdehyde 2,1-aminomutase) gene (btrB, neo18); a putative alcohol dehydrogenase gene (btrE, neo5); and another putative dehydrogenase (similar to chorine dehydrogenase and related flavoproteins) gene (btrQ, neo11).