Genome Entries 8

Chapter 15: Sex

Prader-Willi syndrome and Angelman’s syndrome, both are caused by the lack of the same chunk of chromosome 15, and it has been shown that whether a child inherits one syndrome or the other depends on the parent from whom the mutation is inherited. This relates to sexual antagonism and the fact that the placenta is controlled by paternal genes. Genetic cloning seems to erase all genetic imprints so the organism still survives. Imprinting has an effect on the brain too, that the mother’s genes control the development of the cerebral cortex while the father’s control the development of the hypothalamus, so essentially we inherit our mother’s way of thinking and our father’s innate moods.

Citation:

Ridley, Matt. Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters. New York: HarperCollins, 1999. Print.