COrrections on OOgenesis (was Immortality etc.)

[Graham Dellaire]

Just to clear up a few things... that could be missleading.....

>   Gregory Bloom <gjb at evolving.com> writes:

>  There are a number of problems with the notion of "self-fertilized"
>  sex cells being a "clone" of one's normal cells.  Each gene actually
>  consists of a pair of genes, one from each parent.  Usually, only
>  one of these two genes (alleles?) expresses itself.  When egg cells are
>  formed, a recombination occurs that "shuffles" the genes from each parent
>  into two separate nuclei.  One nucleus goes on to form the new egg cell,
>  while the other nucleus is pushed into a non-functional cell called
>  the corpus luteum, I believe. 
 
Uhm   according to the most basic understanding of Meiosis there are 4 products of this
process (ie. four cells each with a haploid chromsomes number) not two!   The other three product s of 
meiosis are re absorbed thereby allowing the cytoplasm of all four products to contribute to the 
cytoplasm of one egg.

> If a different random selection of genetic
>  material from a different egg cell is used to "fertilize" this egg,

This need not be done, there is a process known as parthenogenesis... whereby an unfertilized 
mammalian egg cell can be stimulated to develop into a complete embryo. 


>  In each case where this gene had previously been recessive and
>  therefore unexpressed,

Recessive does not equal unexpressed.  It just means that you require two copies of the gene 
to affect the phenotype away from the dominant phenotype.  The gene product may be out competed 
by the dominant form  for binding of promoters, other proteins etc.



>  Gregory Bloom  mailto:gjb at evolving.com  303.740.5706(vox)  303.740.5800(fax)
>  ESI, Southgate One Building, 6892 So. Yosemite Ct. Englewood, CO 80111 (rox)


G. Dellaire  



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Graham Dellaire			    Snail Mail:
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