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EmilyU1F984 t1_j0amy55 wrote

Reply to comment by aecarol1 in Will my kids inherit the genetic mutations that I aquire during my lifetime? by RedditScoutBoy

Yea radiation to the testicles/ovaries or similar mutagens will cause inheritable mutations. Anything else getting damaged in OPs body is irrelevant.

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nyaaaa t1_j0b8frb wrote

Is it really "inheritable" if you don't have it?

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ScipioLongstocking t1_j0berjk wrote

Yeah. That's why people can be carriers for hereditary diseases, but they don't actually have the disease.

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Quantum_Quandry t1_j0e44aa wrote

That’s generally due to recessive genes and not due to a mutation in the cell generations immediately before your gonads (though that too is possible).

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Dal90 t1_j0bfx9f wrote

Epigenetics.

You may have a trait or mutation that doesn't express itself, but your kids my find themselves in the right behavioral or environmental situation it does.

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avian_aficianado t1_j0m0hfn wrote

Its interesting for example how the emergence of epigenetic modifictions can affet both cognitive and endocrinological function. The amount of dopamine recepetors being deactivated during signal transmssion has been correlated with lower IQ test scores, but research into the exact modualtory mechanisms of epigenetics are still being studied. Lactose intolerance is another ntoaable case of methylation during ontogenic development.

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sebwiers t1_j0bg5ul wrote

It's inheritable in that the person born with it can pass it down. You can't really mutate post birth to have a genetic condition; if you have the condition you were born with it.

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MoobyTheGoldenSock t1_j0c3ucn wrote

Not fully irrelevant. That damage can still be passed in some form via epigenetics.

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futurettt t1_j0dcvm7 wrote

Wouldn't the epigenetic modulation have to be implemented in germ line cells (in testes/ovaries)

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MoobyTheGoldenSock t1_j0dftxe wrote

Yes. But that’s the entire point: epigenetic factors can and do affect gametes. You can have a surgery that results in DNA methylation that in turn affects your sperm that in turn gets passed to your offspring:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4548616

Obviously, genetics is still by and large the main determiner, but epigenetics can result in genes being expressed or silenced in offspring.

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morphinapg t1_j0b9zqq wrote

Can cells from other parts of your body eventually travel elsewhere?

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shadowyams t1_j0bcd5v wrote

No, mammalian cells are programmed to survive only under a pretty narrow and cell-type specific set of biochemical and physical environments. You don't want bone cells setting up shop in your liver, or hair follicles growing out of your ovaries. If you've ever done primary mammalian cell culture, you know that they're super prone to just committing mass suicide. Cancer cells are the exception, because that's kind of their whole jam.

And at any rate, you can't just turn a random cell into a germ cell. Spermatogenesis and oogenesis don't work that way.

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morphinapg t1_j0bcvgz wrote

Can the DNA from one cell travel to another, like for example from blood cells which travel all over?

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shadowyams t1_j0bew8g wrote

  1. Red blood cells and platelets, which are the vast majority of blood cells, don't have nuclei.

  2. No, not generally.

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screen317 t1_j0e4rhx wrote

Bone marrow cells can however travel all the way across the body to other bones though, pretty cool!

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EmilyU1F984 t1_j0bycbs wrote

Yes, they can, to a limited degree.

But the germ line cells are very very well shielded against other cells intruding. And even if foreign cells went to say your testicles. They aren‘t germ line cells, they wouldn’t make sperm.

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[deleted] t1_j0anbqd wrote

[removed]

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hey_look_its_shiny t1_j0asdko wrote

All of the cells in your body are constantly being exposed to low levels of radiation which can cause mutations.

Sterility occurs at higher levels of radiation, when the reproductive cells suffer enough damage (or accrue enough mutations) to make them functionally inoperable.

There's a meaningful amount of room for non-sterility-causing mutations between those two extremes.

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grandBBQninja t1_j0azqde wrote

This is a very broad statement. You probably mean high doses of ionizing radiation. Even then, there are lots of other mutagens as well.

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