Name: Stephen
Status: Other
Grade: Other
Location: N/A
Country: United States
Date: July 2005
Question:
Hello,
Is a man/woman be more closely related to
his/her maternal grandmother than to the paternal one, because, in
addition to the nuclear DNA inherited from each grandmother, practically
all (if not all) of the mitochondrial DNA present in the cytoplasm of the
cell is inherited from the maternal grandmother?
Replies:
Yes it is true that all of the mitochondrial genes are inherited from the
mother who inherited them from her mother (the maternal grandmother). More
importantly though, a male inherits all of his X-chromosome genes (~2% of
his total genes) only from his mother. So the question is, why do horse
breeders place so much emphasis on the stallion of a colt when more of his
genes are inherited from the mare than from the stallion?
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