Karyotype for Sickle Cell Disease: What It Reveals & Limitations

A karyotype is a visual representation of the chromosomes of a cell. Each chromosome contains many genes. In the case of sickle-cell disease, the mutation that causes the disease is located on the 6th chromosome. A karyotype can reveal the presence of sickle cell anemia because it would show the presence of two abnormal copies of the 6th chromosome. However, a karyotype would not be able to determine if someone is a carrier of sickle-cell disease, as carriers only have one abnormal copy of the 6th chromosome.