They get it from their.. ..grandma?
So I don't really have the time to dig up all kinds of links, but I feel like there is enough information to say that as a person grows, their environment and experiences help shape their DNA, their genetic code. It's also reasonable to suggest that a parent passes those changes down to their children. One of the reasons I wanted to have quit smoking for an extended period of time before I had a child.
Anyway, with men or males of most mammals, they produce sperm daily. It's very likely that everyday, they produce new sperm with updated genetic material.
But with females, they are born with all the eggs they'll ever have.
So my question is this.. wouldn't the genetic material they're loaded with have come from their mother? When a female is pregnant with a female child, it makes sense that the child's eggs' genetic material actually came from her mother. So when the child grows up and becomes pregnant, the new child whether a male or female, would actually be getting half of its genetic material from their grandmother.
Or is there some sort of mechanism that updates the genes within a woman's eggs throughout her life?
Perhaps that's why some claim certain disorders skip a generation, because our genetic code at conception could actually be a mix of our father's genetics and our grandmother's.
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.There is a field of EPIgenetics. The genetic code itself does not change, but epigenetic changes can switch gene expression on or off. There is evidence that trauma can influence epigenetic expression and yes, this could impact children differently as gene expression changes.
A2Jennifer
Level 8
Sep 5, 2019
0
Epigenetics is a pretty interesting field, but was kind of a side topic to my question. I'm curious to know when the DNA in a woman's eggs is formed. If it's formed when the woman is still a fetus, does it somehow change throughout her life? Does the DNA change throughout her life or does it remain the same as when she was born?
@FatherOfNyx DNA does not change. Not in men or in women.
@A2Jennifer I mean, it kind of does. Still not addressing my question, but ok. When DNA replicates, it can experience a wide variety of random mutations. That would be a change. When environmental factors cause a gene to be expressed, that expression can be written in the next replication. That would be a change. Things like radiation and other mutagens can degrade DNA. That would be a change. If DNA didn't change, we wouldn't have the wonderful process of evolution..
@FatherOfNyx There’s probably better places to get factual information about DNA than a message board. But NO, there Is no “mechanism” to update the DNA in a woman’s eggs. And while yes, DNA can have errors in replication, that does not change the DNA code of a formed person.
Remember, every chromosome comes in pairs - one from mum, one from dad. Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes. The process that creates sex cells, meiosis, randomly splits both female and male genetic material when producing sperm/eggs. So, while it is true that all a woman's eggs have formed in her ovaries by birth, they are just as random in their genetic make-up as the sperm produced by men.
MrBeelzeebubbles
Level 7
Sep 5, 2019
2
I know, but the question is who provided the genetic material contained in the egg.
If a woman's eggs form while she is still in the womb, who is the DNA within the egg of the female fetus copied from?
@FatherOfNyx half from mum, half from dad. Except for mitochondrial DNA. That comes entirely from mum.
@MrBeelzeebubbles But you're missing the question... The DNA that you get from your mum, was it formed when your mum was a just fetus in your grand-mum?
@FatherOfNyx What's in the egg is HALF of each chromosome pair, an assortment of DNA from each parent (23 chrmomosome singles). No eggs form in a new fetus's ovaries until the egg giving rise to her gets fertilized by a sperm, contributing the second half of each chromosome (23 chromosome pairs, 46 chromosomes). Any eggs that she then makes can contain an assortment of DNA from either that sperm or that egg (23 chromosome singles again).
@Zster Ok, but when the 23 chromosomes form in the eggs of a female fetus, whose DNA are they based off of? The fetus or possibly the mother carrying the fetus?
Interesting question. No idea. Any geneticist have the scoop?
Beowulfsfriend
Level 9
Sep 5, 2019
1
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