Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

morphinapg t1_j0b9zqq wrote

Reply to comment by EmilyU1F984 in Will my kids inherit the genetic mutations that I aquire during my lifetime? by RedditScoutBoy

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

1

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.

12

morphinapg t1_j0bcvgz wrote

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

1

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.

4

screen317 t1_j0e4rhx wrote

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

1

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.

2