Re:A Revolution in Biology
by thaumasiotes on Sunday June 09, 2024 @08:13PM
(#40628715)
> For example: each of XXX, XXY, XYY, and Downs are found in around 0.1 of human births, each of which gets an extra copy of a chromosome. These specific changes may not be too good for us, but this kind of sudden massive increase is also found in some plants without negative repercussions.
A couple notes:
Downs is unlike the other defects you mentioned in that it severely impairs the patient while the various extra-sex-chromosome disorders vary from sterility through minor impairment to what basically amounts to behavioral differences.
Downs is unusual, though, in that most extra chromosomes make the fetus nonviable. As far as trisomy disorders go in general, Downs is unusually benign.
Plants are better known for increasing their -ploidy (number of sets of chromosomes) than the count of an individual chromosome. A triploid human, with three copies of every chromosome, would be hopelessly nonviable. Plants are different. Really different.
A couple notes:
Downs is unlike the other defects you mentioned in that it severely impairs the patient while the various extra-sex-chromosome disorders vary from sterility through minor impairment to what basically amounts to behavioral differences.
Downs is unusual, though, in that most extra chromosomes make the fetus nonviable. As far as trisomy disorders go in general, Downs is unusually benign.
Plants are better known for increasing their -ploidy (number of sets of chromosomes) than the count of an individual chromosome. A triploid human, with three copies of every chromosome, would be hopelessly nonviable. Plants are different. Really different.