Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Microchimera - a little bit of others in us!

Scientists have known for some time that there are human chimeras. Humans that contain DNA from other humans (undeveloped twins usually). The name chimera comes from a mythological creature seen above.

Now scientists have discovered several cases of microchimerism, a situation in which individual cells (genetic chimeras usually have entire tissues composed of different sourced DNA) from other sources are found in the body. The most common situation of microchimerism seems to occur between mother and child.

What does this say about epigenetics and our immune system? Identify what you think about the possible links between Alzheimers and these foreign cells.

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