Stem Cells Change Man's DNA 171
An anonymous reader writes "After receiving umbilical cord stem cells to replace bone marrow as treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Greg Graves temporarily had three different sets of DNA. Eventually, one of the two sets of cells transplanted into his bone marrow took root, leaving him different DNA in his blood from the rest of his body: 'If you were to do a DNA test of my blood and one from my skin, they'd be different,' Graves said. 'It's a pretty wild thing.'"
Beginning of the end? (Score:4, Interesting)
first man-made chimera? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: So much for DNA evidence... (Score:5, Interesting)
Summary: Woman is a Chimera (two sets of DNA), and gets a paternity test, first one fails, second succeds because they take from another part of her body.
Re: So much for DNA evidence... (Score:2, Interesting)
as recalled by the csi tag (Score:5, Interesting)
real but extremely rare, it developmentally consists of nonidentical twins in the womb whose embryos fuse very early on, when that is still possible (when they are only a couple of hundred cells, for example)
then the organism consists of one individual, but one organ system might be a completely different genetic makeup than another organism. so sombody's nervous system could be genetic code A, while his spleen could be genetic code B. chimeras can go through life having no idea what they are, but sometimes, you can see it on their skin (a subtle zebra striping)
Re: So much for DNA evidence... (Score:3, Interesting)
This happens naturally in lots of people.
It even touches on the subject of pigmentation - where babies of interracial couples are born with "checkberboard" skin.
The really amazing thing (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Beginning of the end? (Score:3, Interesting)
Chimerism is old news but ignored (Score:3, Interesting)
This leads to heartbreaking legal situations. A mother applied for welfare benefits. When they did DNA testing to make sure the kids were hers, DNA testing showed half were not, and they took half her kids away. Her obstetrician and her husband testified under oath that they had observed the kids birth, but to the bureaucracy, DNA was incontrovertible. Years later, a doctor interested in chimerism noticed her case, took multiple DNA samples from many locations, and showed that she had 2 major and one minor DNA profile. The minor was her mother, the 2 major profiles were her and her fraternal sister. The embryos had merged, and half her eggs were one DNA and half her sisters (or vice versa - it's hard to say if it's her or her sister).
A winning athlete was accused of blood doping (blood transfusion before the competition to increase stamina) and lost his medal, despite medical testimony that he was a chimera, and had two types of bone marrow DNA, and hence two types of blood.