Human Chimeras - This blows my mind!

[Deleted User] · 05/03/14 - 11:06

Does anyone know anything about this?

It fascinates me - the notion that people can have different genetic profiles for say, blood vs hair, throws a big question mark DNA tests etc in my mind.

This case of a woman nearly having her children taken away from her because initial DNA tests showed she wasn't their mother (when she was) gives you the idea:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lydia_Fairchild

She's not the only example, either.

It appears to be a relatively new area of scientific research with little headway, which makes me wonder how many humans are chimeras? And how could that have been impacting everything we do that relies heavily on DNA tests?

MrQuike · 05/03/14 - 11:18

First I ever heard of such a thing. Thanks.

ChipPaper · 05/03/14 - 11:21

I remember seeing this on CSI, when they DNA tested the guy that did it and it said he didn't. Or something like that. They figured it out in the end.

Yeah, pretty interesting. Chimeras, not CSI. Well, I like CSI, but yeah.

MrQuike · 05/03/14 - 11:26

So I could be my own twin and never know.

[Deleted User] · 05/03/14 - 11:29

You know what, when I've Googled this, *so* many of the results reference that episode

I've never seen it myself, but if I had I'd probably have thought it far-fetched.

But on closer reading it looks likely that to very, very low levels many of us are chimeras - it seems that some of a mother's cells transfer to offspring and survive, and some transfer from child to mother and survive.

The interesting and worrying part is where blastocysts merge (basically a non-identical twin absorbing the other twin, but not at foetal stage) and different parts of the body end up having different genetic profiles

!

[Deleted User] · 05/03/14 - 11:31

MrQuike wrote: »

So I could be my own twin and never know.

Exactly! Mind-bending isn't it!

You only might find out if you had DNA testing done on different body parts, or tested against children/parents as with Lydia Fairchild.

Picto · 05/03/14 - 11:33

It's a fascinating subject isn't it.

The fact that one fertilized egg can absorb another in the womb. Your own twin hiding within your very cells, it could even be a different sex. It is mind blowing.

MrQuike · 05/03/14 - 11:44

Picto wrote: »

It's a fascinating subject isn't it.

The fact that one fertilized egg can absorb another in the womb. Your own twin hiding within your very cells, it could even be a different sex. It is mind blowing.

Alien Hand Syndrome - being throttled by your own twin in an act of revenge for something that happened in the womb. ::o

[Deleted User] · 05/03/14 - 11:45

Picto wrote: »

It's a fascinating subject isn't it.

The fact that one fertilized egg can absorb another in the womb. Your own twin hiding within your very cells, it could even be a different sex. It is mind blowing.

Indeed. Going by the results of this study it could be far more prevalent than we might assume:

wrote:

Chan and Nelson’s team ran DNA tests on the brains of 59 women who died between the ages of 32 and 101. To make things simple, they searched for a gene found only on the male Y chromosome. (Women shouldn’t have any Y-chromosome DNA, so finding it would provide strong evidence of the presence of microchimeric cells.) Overall, the scientists found DNA evidence for male cells in 63 percent of the subjects, distributed in multiple brain regions. One woman who tested positive had died at 94, well past child-bearing age, meaning the male cells had stuck around for at least half a century.

[Deleted User] · 05/03/14 - 11:48

MrQuike wrote: »

Alien Hand Syndrome - being throttled by your own twin in an act of revenge for something that happened in the womb. ::o

Blimey - dark much!

But yeah!

It does open up so many questions about how it might affect your personality at any point in life, and I read some speculation that it could account for the genetic aspects of homosexuality being passed down (the big question often being how can such genes be passed down and remain present in populations if procreation is rarer for that group).

I want an expert to come and tell me EVERYTHING!

Picto · 05/03/14 - 12:02

MrQuike wrote: »

Alien Hand Syndrome - being throttled by your own twin in an act of revenge for something that happened in the womb. ::o

I am in a constant battle with my chimeric twin. She is evil and sometimes makes me type things on here that i don't want to. So far i am largely winning the battle but if i type something that offends someone, it wasn't me, it was her.

vosne · 05/03/14 - 12:03

Picto wrote: »

I am in a constant battle with my chimeric twin. She is evil and sometimes makes me type things on here that i don't want to. So far i am largely winning the battle but if i type something that offends someone, it wasn't me, it was her. Ya bastards \/

*nods*

Ber · 05/03/14 - 12:05

So if I understand this correctly...

It is possible for human A to have more than 1 'set' of DNA, and that extra DNA can be localised to certain parts of the body and even be DNA for the opposite gender to them?

dorydaryl · 05/03/14 - 12:08

Oh my days, this is scary stuff!!! Interesting to know about, though.

[Deleted User] · 05/03/14 - 12:15

Picto wrote: »

I am in a constant battle with my chimeric twin. She is evil and sometimes makes me type things on here that i don't want to. So far i am largely winning the battle but if i type something that offends someone, it wasn't me, it was her.

Ber wrote: »

So if I understand this correctly...

It is possible for human A to have more than 1 'set' of DNA, and that extra DNA can be localised to certain parts of the body and even be DNA for the opposite gender to them?

Yep. Exactly.

In the case of Lydia Fairchild her cervical cells matched her children, but her skin and hair didn't.

Blaschko's lines are where the skin has striations (often only visible under UV light) caused by banding of the two different DNA types coding for different shades of skin, for example. So even a body part itself may contain the two DNA types.

rds60h · 05/03/14 - 16:40

I thought the title said "Human Chimineas".................................I was expecting a thread about people self igniting and going up in flames. :-D

TheSilentFez · 05/03/14 - 16:47

I was able to diagnose someone with this on an episode of House 30 minutes before House managed to.

cnbcwatcher · 06/03/14 - 01:40

My Intellectual Property Law lecturer is obsessed with this kind of thing. She's also interested in human-animal hybrids. Strange woman

I don't know what kind of university I go to

[Deleted User] · 06/03/14 - 01:41

rds60h wrote: »

I thought the title said "Human Chimineas".................................I was expecting a thread about people self igniting and going up in flames. :-D

I so get that!

TheSilentFez wrote: »

I was able to diagnose someone with this on an episode of House 30 minutes before House managed to.

How??! If you have any examples/info, please add, I'm a bit obsessed with this at the mo

exlordlucan · 06/03/14 - 01:47

rds60h wrote: »

I thought the title said "Human Chimineas".................................I was expecting a thread about people self igniting and going up in flames. :-D

LOL I thought that and was about to leave a similar comment

TheTruth1983 · 06/03/14 - 01:54

cnbcwatcher wrote: »

My Intellectual Property Law lecturer is obsessed with this kind of thing. She's also interested in human-animal hybrids. Strange woman I don't know what kind of university I go to

I would love to try and cross breed a human and a bumble bee

TheTruth1983 · 06/03/14 - 01:55

ChipPaper wrote: »

I remember seeing this on CSI, when they DNA tested the guy that did it and it said he didn't. Or something like that. They figured it out in the end.

Yeah, pretty interesting. Chimeras, not CSI. Well, I like CSI, but yeah.

That's the first thing that came to my mind as well

[Deleted User] · 06/03/14 - 02:01

TheTruth1983 wrote: »

I would love to try and cross breed a human and a bumble bee

Wiki it - they've been up to all sorts!

A bzzzyhuman could well be my fave kind of human though - so yeah, with you on that.

vosne · 06/03/14 - 02:21

rancidbeings wrote: »

Wiki it - they've been up to all sorts!

A bzzzyhuman could well be my fave kind of human though - so yeah, with you on that.

GuineaBees exist so why not?

CaptainObvious_ · 06/03/14 - 02:30

TheTruth1983 wrote: »

I would love to try and cross breed a human and a bumble bee

Human bee-ings

[Deleted User] · 06/03/14 - 03:33

vosne wrote: »

GuineaBees exist so why not?

The Fly formed my views on this subject... nuff said!

Hey there!

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Human Chimeras - This blows my mind!

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