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This one goes out to Dennis Prager (piefed.cdn.blahaj.zone)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/science_memes@mander.xyz
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cross-posted from: https://piefed.blahaj.zone/c/lemmyshitpost/p/403453/this-one-goes-out-to-dennis-prager

I think this is referring to this

https://www.sciencealert.com/scientific-first-mice-with-two-fathers-now-have-offspring

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[–] 7 points 1 year ago* (4 children)

It's been a long time (literally multiple decades) since I was taught this stuff, and it's been forgotten due to disuse. Are you saying there's still maternal DNA in the offspring, or just in the environment that nurtures them until birth?

I did mention the eggs, BTW - I doubt that aspect can be avoided.

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  • [–] 9 points 1 year ago

    Mitochondria are specialized mini-cells

    They have their own DNA like bacteria, just floating around inside their membranes. They undergo their own mitosis inside the cell, some cells can have hundreds of them

    And they always come from the egg. They're purely maternal

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  • [–] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

    Mitochondria have DNA. Mitochondria are passed from mother to child through the egg. The egg used in the scenario would have mitochondrial DNA from the mother mouse. All of what would typically be called mouse DNA came from the two male mice. So, technically DNA from the maternal line, but only mitochondrial DNA, not mouse DNA.

    Edit: ah, autocorrect.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    Thank you for the response, but I guess this will require some research on my part to understand. Biological sciences were never my thing, I'm afraid.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    Like most things, it's pretty simple from the far view. But there are a lot of details, much of which scientists are still trying to figure out.

    The short version is, mitochondria, those powerhouses of the cell, have their own DNA, just like some bacteria. They do their own living, dividing, and dying, and have their own lineage. When a cell splits, some of the mitochondria go to each cell. So the mitochondrial DNA will be inherited from whoever donated the cell, or egg in this instance. So the lineage of the mitochondria would be related to the mitochondria of the egg donor and any other offspring she had, but the DNA in the nucleus, the mouse DNA, wouldn't be related to her.

    ...and that opens the door to mitochondrial diseases, all of which are pretty terrible.

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