Experimental Blog #175

Quotations and notes from "Like a Virgin" - How Science Is Redesigning the Rules of Sex by Aarathi Prasad

" ..the Y chromosome, < > now has only around forty-five genes of the 1400-odd genes with which it began the human species."

"Most mutations, those mistakes in the combined DNA, arise in sperm."
"Recent estimates show that the rate of mutations in males compared to females is < > ten times higher in our primate, humans .."

"So even though the mother's genome still contains all the genes it takes to grow a complete baby from one of her eggs, only some of them are allowed to function. The same is true for some of the father's genes."
" .. many of these genes that are imprinted{only about 80 of the 23 thousand genes can be locked-up} dictate not what we will look like, but are able to manipulate the growth and nutrition of the foetus in the womb."
"It seems that sperm do more than just deliver packets of DNA into eggs - they regulate pregnancy itself."

" .. those eighty genes that are subject to imprinting{depending on whether they come from the father or the mother} have an important say in the development of our brains."
"Recent molecular analysis has shown that among people who carry defects or mutations in genes that are supposed to be imprinted, there is a surprisingly large incidence of cognitive, behavioural, neurological, and psychiatric conditions."