Genetically Speaking, You’re More Like Your Dad (?)

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Interesting article:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2015/03/03/genetically-more-like-dad/#.VvhFliezDgB


Quote:

"You may have inherited your mother’s eyes, but, genetically speaking, youuse more DNA passed down from your father. That’s the conclusion of a new study on mice that researchers say likely applies to all mammals.

We humans get one copy of each gene from mom and one from dad (ignoring those pesky sex chromosomes) – that hasn’t changed. The same is true for all mammals. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that mom and dad genes are equally active in creating who we are.

Researchers now report that thousands of mouse genes show parent-specific effects, and that on balance, the scales are tipped in favor of dads. Studying whether this imbalance exists in humans could give scientists insights into the causes of inherited conditions like diabetes and heart disease.

Of Mice and Men

Humans, mice and many other animals shared a common ancestor some 80 million years ago; therefore, our set of genes are highly alike. Further, when mice pass their genetic material down to their offspring, the manner in which genes are turned on or off is also similar to humans.

The study looks at gene expression – that is, genes’ level of activity in producing RNA, which is the molecule that then goes on to create proteins and basically make the body function. In this study, scientists worked with a population of mice called the Collaborative Cross, which is the most genetically diverse population of mice in the world. These mice were specifically bred to mimic the genetic diversity found in human populations.

Scientists interbred three strains of these mice to create nine different types of offspring. When these mice reached adulthood, scientists measured the level of gene expression in a variety of bodily tissues. They then quantified how much gene expression was derived from the mother and the father for every single gene in the genome.

Daddy DNA

Overall, they found that most genes showed parent-of-origin effects in their levels of expression, and that paternal genes consistently won out. For up to 60 percent of the mouse’s genes, the copy from dad was more active than the copy from mom. This imbalance resulted in mice babies whose brains were significantly more like dad’s, genetically speaking.

The researchers believe the same is likely true in all mammals. “We now know that mammals express more genetic variance from the father,” says Pardo-Manuel de Villena. “So imagine that a certain kind of mutation is bad. If inherited from the mother, the gene wouldn’t be expressed as much as it would be if it were inherited from the father. So, the same bad mutation would have different consequences in disease if it were inherited from the mother or from the father.”

The findings, which were published this week in Nature Genetics, add a new wrinkle into our understanding of inherited diseases. Knowing an imbalance exists in how your parents’ genes affect you could help scientists treat and predict diseases more accurately.

So, dads, next time you’re showing off those baby pictures, go ahead and boast: the little one does take after you."
 
I was always sceptical about the process being exactly equal, but imagined this to be imbalanced in smaller than chromosome scale but not for the whole genome. This is interesting but let's wait for confirmation of other scientists and other mammals, humans included.

Are they talking about whole genetic material being 60% father's or the genes expressing acting more like father's?
I'm not sure how the first should be possible if egg and sperm carry only a single strand of the helix? To create functional cell they need to fully recombine into a double helix, exactly 50/50. Is it possible that these mice sperm found the way to carry not only a single strand but some more? Or perhaps instead of one, two sperm can get into one egg and can join together in certain places instead of maternal DNA?
 
Generally speaking looking like your Dad seems to be a natural survival strategy, there is little doubt who your mother is and women have the maternal instinct, looking like your father could perhaps trigger your father to protect and provide for you.
 
I dont think so at all, its funny because ive even read a study that said we are possible more related to our mother. Im pretty sure we are exactly 50% of our father and 50% of our mother liike most modern studies say. i just cant see how you could be that much from you father, as even in my family there are so many things i get from my mother. Something in my insticts just tells me that study is wrong. I know thats not a valid proof and i didnt formulate this comment well with any facts but i just think its a load of hog wash.
 
I dont think so at all, its funny because ive even read a study that said we are possible more related to our mother. Im pretty sure we are exactly 50% of our father and 50% of our mother liike most modern studies say. i just cant see how you could be that much from you father, as even in my family there are so many things i get from my mother. Something in my insticts just tells me that study is wrong. I know thats not a valid proof and i didnt formulate this comment well with any facts but i just think its a load of hog wash.
In a way I agree. mtdna seems to be the thing that determines our energy and how we work. I have also found (from my studies) that congenital diseases are often more common if they are carried by females (or the mother) than males.

It also explains to me why people with similar mtdna look more similar; while cultures with same Y-DNA (i.e. Basques and Irish) don't have much of a resemblance. (Irish are often portrayed as red-haired and green eyed with straight hair. While Basques are brown/black haired with brown or grey eyes, sometimes with wavy hair.)

Irish have some of the most Indo-European mtdna; while the Basques have some of the most archaic European. It would also better explain the major differences in hair-color.
 
In a way I agree. mtdna seems to be the thing that determines our energy and how we work. I have also found (from my studies) that congenital diseases are often more common if they are carried by females (or the mother) than males.

It also explains to me why people with similar mtdna look more similar; while cultures with same Y-DNA (i.e. Basques and Irish) don't have much of a resemblance. (Irish are often portrayed as red-haired and green eyed with straight hair. While Basques are brown/black haired with brown or grey eyes, sometimes with wavy hair.)

Irish have some of the most Indo-European mtdna; while the Basques have some of the most archaic European. It would also better explain the major differences in hair-color.

Dont u think that's because women were historically more prone to stay at home while men went conquering and eventually mingled with the conquered women?
 
In a way I agree. mtdna seems to be the thing that determines our energy and how we work. I have also found (from my studies) that congenital diseases are often more common if they are carried by females (or the mother) than males.

It also explains to me why people with similar mtdna look more similar; while cultures with same Y-DNA (i.e. Basques and Irish) don't have much of a resemblance. (Irish are often portrayed as red-haired and green eyed with straight hair. While Basques are brown/black haired with brown or grey eyes, sometimes with wavy hair.)

Irish have some of the most Indo-European mtdna; while the Basques have some of the most archaic European. It would also better explain the major differences in hair-color.

I see that cultures with similar Y-DNA actually do have something of a resemblance. For example, Bosnian Croats, southern Swedes, and northern Dutch have different autosomal makeup but all have high frequencies of Haplogroup I, and we all happen to be the tallest people on Europe on average (at least for males). Sardinians, also with high frequencies of Haplogroup I, would be the exception as they are on average the shortest people in the continent.
 
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In a way I agree. mtdna seems to be the thing that determines our energy and how we work. I have also found (from my studies) that congenital diseases are often more common if they are carried by females (or the mother) than males.

It also explains to me why people with similar mtdna look more similar; while cultures with same Y-DNA (i.e. Basques and Irish) don't have much of a resemblance. (Irish are often portrayed as red-haired and green eyed with straight hair. While Basques are brown/black haired with brown or grey eyes, sometimes with wavy hair.)

Irish have some of the most Indo-European mtdna; while the Basques have some of the most archaic European. It would also better explain the major differences in hair-color.

well i dont know if people with similar mtdna or similar Ydna will resemble eachother purely based on that fact. Irish people actually arent all so pale and red headed, in fact the majority of Irish have brown hair and alot can actually resemble basque or spaniards. I just think that the human body couldnt function well if we only used our dna from our father. The human body comes from a massive gene pool that took thousands if not millions of years to develope, why would our bodies limit themselves so much by just taking and using only one side, it just doesnt make sense to me
 
well i dont know if people with similar mtdna or similar Ydna will resemble eachother purely based on that fact. Irish people actually arent all so pale and red headed, in fact the majority of Irish have brown hair and alot can actually resemble basque or spaniards. I just think that the human body couldnt function well if we only used our dna from our father. The human body comes from a massive gene pool that took thousands if not millions of years to develope, why would our bodies limit themselves so much by just taking and using only one side, it just doesnt make sense to me
Good point srdceleva. Body would handicap itself with such limitation. By evolutionary point of view it doesn't make sense.
 

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