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Illegal Beings: Human Clones
Re: No pictures
libfemme ( 04/24/2004, 08:23:41 )Inbreeding increases the likelihood of getting two identical copies of a particular gene. For every trait we have, we have one gene for it from our mother and one gene for it from our father.If our parents are not related then the odds are the one gene we get for eye color will be slight different from the other gene for eye color we get from our other parent.However,your brother has the same set of parents you do, so his genes for eye color will be similiar to yours. Since you both got yours from the same source.Therefore if you and your brother should mate, your offspring would get one gene for eye color from you, and where did you did you get? Say your mother.And your offspring would also get a gene for eye color from your brother, and where did he get it? Say also your common mother.That means your offspring could have no genetic variety for eye color, but two identical copies of the very same gene.Some versions of a gene are dominant and some are recessive. That means the dominant form is passed on in the "open" or "on" position. On the chromsome, that stretch of DNA is not held closed by an enzyme. Consequently, it always gets expressed, or used. We call that a dominant gene.A recessive gene is one that is passed on the "closed" or "off" position. An enzyme is holding the two strands of DNA tightly together so that they cannot be copied by the cell without first releasing that lock.As a consequence, the cell goes for the easier gene. The open one gets used first, and the closed gene doesn't get used unless the cell has no other open gene for that trait. Well what if both copies of that gene are recessives? Then the cell has to go to the trouble of unlocking that enzyme and using that gene.As a consequence a closed gene (a recessive) can be passed down for generation after generation to hundreds of relatives but it never gets opened because the other gene those people inherited from their other parent was a dominant, and that's used first.But when two people who are closely related, that is they carry the same copy of genes, there is no variety to pass on. They can only pass on the genes they have. So if both their genes are identical, because they came from the same source, the odds increase that their offspring may inherit two identical genes for any one trait.If those identical genes are dominant genes, you may not notice anything different. Since the dominant gene always gets expressed, that particular trait had been showing up in the family all along and it is not likely to be harm. Why is less likely to be harmful? Because if were harmful it might have killed off anyone who had the trait and it your dead your genes can't get passed to the next generation. Your genes dies with you.So the genes that show up often usually are beneficial genes because the harmfuls have long since been weeded out by survival.But suppose the two identical genes that your offspring inherits are two recessive genes then the cells of that person will have to go to the trouble of unlocked that recessive cell. It hasn't been used as often so it's appearance may be a surprise. No one has seen that recessive trait expressed before. The gene was always there in the family, passed down to relative to relative, but it never got used so no one knew of its existence until two recessive were inherited so one finally had to be opened.Since this recessive hasn't appeared much it might be a fatal gene. Fatal genes that are dominants are weeded out immediately. You inherite a fatal dominant gene, you express it and you're dead. End of that dominant fatal gene.But a fatal recessive gene can be passed safely from generation to generation because it is never opened. A fatal recessive gene can survive, where a fatal dominant gene would be killed off.So if this less used gene, does in fact happen to be a harmful one that will not show up in this individual who has two copies.Harmful recessive genes can meet up at any time. But if two people are not closely related the odds are less than any two of their genes, good or bad, dominant or recessive, will be identical. But when closely related people interbreed the chance of two identical genes, whether good or bad, dominant or recessive, meeting up in one individual increases.It is not that inbreeding 'causes' harmful genes. It is that harmful genes have a better chance of meeting another harmful gene in inbreeding.If two people closely related have no harmful genes to pass on then their offspring will be completely normal. However, the point is there is no one, no family, is completely free of one bad gene or another. If you mate with non family members, that harmful gene never gets match up and it just sits dorminant as it is passed unaware from generation to generation.
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