GENEALOGY-DNA-L Archives
Archiver > GENEALOGY-DNA > 2004-01 > 1074887719
From:
Subject: Re: [DNA] Charlemagne's DNA?
Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2004 14:55:25 -0500 (EST)
References: <20040123041111.67384.qmail@web41811.mail.yahoo.com> <001301c3e16b$79baa050$c7e289d1@Ken1>
In-Reply-To: <001301c3e16b$79baa050$c7e289d1@Ken1> (kennordtvedt@imt.net)
Ken wrote:
> The "chunks" of DNA inherited as a group are collections of
> linked genes. If we inherited pieces of genes we'd destroy too many
> functioning genes..
Are you aware of the crossover phenomenon? Each pair of chromosomes
includes one from each parent, thus:
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
However, when you look at the chromosome passed on to the next generation,
it is neither pure "F" nor pure "M", but rather a mosaic of seamlessly
re-stitched pieces of both, as in
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFMMMMMMMMMFFFFFFFFFFFFFMMMMMMMMMMMMM
There do seem to be limitations on exactly where the crossing over
can occur, but I haven't heard of anything that would prevent it from
occurring in the middle of a gene. This is actually a hot topic of
research at the moment, so the process could be a whole lot better
understood in the future.
John Chandler
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