• Question: how does DNA when mixed between mother and father in a new baby, know how to mix? like if it mixed in anyway it wanted the baby might be mutated or something.

    Asked by micromill601 to Donna, Jo, Mark, Stuart, timcraggs on 23 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Donna MacCallum

      Donna MacCallum answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      This is a great question!!!!!

      When a sperm cell fuses with an egg the two half sets of chromosomes become mixed. Like you say this could lead to problems, except chromosomes are really clever and manage to find their partners and stay paired up. You can have problems when this goes wrong, such as in Down’s syndrome, where the cell ends up with three copies of one chromosome – obviously one no longer has a partner!!!

      If the cells didn’t pair up properly, then there would be real problems when the fertilized egg started to divide and each cell would not receive the correct numbers of chromosomes. The cell would then vbe missing some essential genes and would die!

    • Photo: Mark Lancaster

      Mark Lancaster answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      Great question – I have no idea !! But I’m sure one of my colleagues will have answered this and I’m looking forward to reading the answer

    • Photo: Joanna Buckley

      Joanna Buckley answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      Great question, micromill601!

      They just inherently know where to go. They pair up in a random sequence so you might end up with mainly your Mum’s genetics or your Dad’s. I looked like my Dad when I was growing up and now apparently, I look like my Mum when she was in her mid-twenties.

      Sometimes something goes wrong somewhere down the line and babies with Down’s Syndrome are born but when the baby is in the mother’s womb, they can test for things like this

    • Photo: Tim Craggs

      Tim Craggs answered on 23 Jun 2010:

      That is an excellent question.

      I am currently looking up the answer!

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