Standing at 23 inches tall — and weighing in at just 11 pounds — Jyoti Amge is no ordinary teenager. In fact, the 14-year-old is the world's smallest girl, according to the Indian Book of Records.
Amge has a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia, which affects an estimated one out of every 25,000 births and occurs in all races.
But, her tiny size hasn't hampered her spirit one bit.
The teenager told Britain's Sunday Mirror that she enjoys the celebrity status her height has brought her.
"I am proud of being small. I love the attention I get," she told the paper.
"I'm just the same as other people. I eat like you, dream like you. I don't feel any different."
According to the Mayo Clinic, about 70 percent of all people with dwarfism have achondroplasia, which causes disproportionately short stature.
This disorder usually results in:
— An adult height of approximately 4 feet
— An average-size trunk
— Short arms and legs, with particularly short upper arms and legs
— Short fingers, often with a wide separation between the middle and ring fingers
— Limited mobility at the elbows
— A disproportionately large head, with a prominent forehead and flattened bridge of the nose
Despite all this, Amge is just like any other teenager.
She loves listening to music, watching DVDs and attends the local high school in her town of Nagpur, India, where she sits side-by-side with classmates of her own age.
"When Jyoti was born, she seemed quite normal," her mother, Ranjana, 45, told the Sunday Mirror.
"We came to know about her disorder when she was five. We consulted a specialist and he said she will be this size all of her life. Jyoti is small, yet cute, and we love her very much."
As for the future — it’s wide open.
For the most part, people with this form of dwarfism have normal intelligence and lifespan – and this very ambitious teenager intends to take full advantage of all her talents.
"I would like to work in a big city like Mumbai, act in films and travel to London and America," she said.
She has even recently recorded an album with her favorite Indian pop star, Mike Singh, according to the report.
with her family
This is a classic case of primordial dwarfism.
Its due to a mutanogenisis of the RNA polymerase II factors, which in turn mutate the ability of transcription in the DNA of the humanoid chromosome.
The mutation within the polymerase complex is due to a protein-to-protein inhibition or denaturation. Such a small genetic mistake, ushers in a trillion fold mutanogensis in the malformation of organismal growth.
What happens is that the RNA polymerase' structure is changed in that when the Tata-binding protein binds to the Tata Box in the promoter cortex, it is unable to allow the binding of the GCbox's SP1 protein subunit, which is responsible for binding with the general transcriptional factor 110, which therein is attached to the TBP(tata-binding rotein) through the TAFII250 transcription factor. Without this proper binding sequence, there is no manifestation of the pre-initiator complex, if there is no pre-initiator complex, there is no elongation, thus there is no transcription.
Any inhibition or lack of transcription of DNA transcript will mutate and alter the specific DNA sequence, which leads to phenotypic and genotypic mutation and abnormalities.
In this case, there was a lack of transcription of a genomic sequence that was responsible for the proper function of the AER (apical ectodermal ridge) within the limb, which is responsible for proper limb formation.
This is actually a perfect case study in a molecular biology or cellular biology course.
