 When a defective gene causes gaps to appear in the metabolic recycling process for purines and pyrimidines, these chemicals are not metabolised properly, and adults or children can suffer from any one of twenty-eight hereditary disorders, possibly some more as yet unknown.Symptoms can include gout, anaemia, epilepsy, delayed development, deafness, compulsive self-biting, kidney failure or stones, or loss of immunity.Purine metabolism can have imbalances that can arise from harmful nucleotide triphosphosphates incorporating into DNA and RNA which further lead to genetic disturbances and mutations, and as a result, give rise to several types of diseases.