It’s easy to feel like you’re an even mix of your parents, but that’s not always
the case.
So, who should you be blaming over those traits you don’t like?
What did you inherit from Mom and what came from Dad?
Colour-blind?
If you’re a male, you can thank your mother.
Red-green colour blindness is an X-linked disorder that affects nearly 6% of the male
population worldwide, but only 0.4% of females.
This is because males only inherit one X chromosome, which is from their mother, and that’s where
red-green colorblindness comes from.
If you’re a female, you have to get a the X-variant from both parents.
So that 0.4% can blame dad as well!
Balding?
A big component comes from the X-chromosome here too, so you likely inherited this from
your mom.
However, a study involving 52,000 people found that genes on other chromosomes can affect
this condition, on top of environmental factors such as age, stress, and diet - so mom isn’t
entirely to blame!
Research has also found that the shape of the end of your nose, the area above and below
the lips, cheekbones and the inner corner of the eye are highly influenced by genetics.
And interestingly, the more they resemble your father as a child, the healthier you’re
likely to be.
Why?
Scientists believe that a father-child resemblance causes fathers to spend more time engaging
in positive parenting, which ultimately contributes to healthier kids.
Now, even though you get half of your 46 chromosomes from mom and the other from dad, a study involving
genetically diverse mice found that for 60% of genes the paternal copy was more active
than the maternal copy.
This phenomenon is known as allelic imbalance.
The same study also noted that the brains of these particular mice more closely resembled
that of their dad than their mom.
However, in humans we actually see the opposite.
Our brains are more similar to our mother, which is particularly true for daughters.
Interestingly, the similar brain regions are actually associated with depressive conditions,
suggesting that mood disorders may pass from mother to daughter.
Biologists used to believe that all DNA came from the nucleus, but we now know that the
mitochondria (AKA the powerhouse of the cell) also kicks in some protein coding genes.
And this mitochondrial DNA is specifically inherited from your mom because your dad’s
degraded immediately after fertilization.
Considering how important mitochondrial DNA is in the cell, there is a stronger maternal
link.
Mutations in mitochondrial DNA have been associated with Type 2 diabetes and Parkinson’s disease
- which more likely came from your mom.
Maternal inheritance gave rise to the idea of a “Mitochondrial Eve”, a woman who
lived between 180,000 to 580,000 years ago from which all human mitochondrial DNA is
rooted.
At the end of the day, it may seem like a lot of traits actually come from your mom,
or at least, from the X chromosome - and that’s generally true, genetically.
The Y-chromosome is very small, and doesn’t contain as many genes; and both females and
males contain X-chromosomes, which carry more genes.
But as we continue to research more about ourselves at the genetic level, the division
between what you got from mom vs. dad may become even more pronounced.
If you want to know more about your own genetics, you can visit 23andMe.com/asap, who sponsored
this episode.
Whether you want to know about your chances of balding, back hair, your taste sense or
where your ancestors came from, 23andMe’s kit will get you started.
We both took it, and I found out the GREAT news that I’m more prone to having a little
upper back hair, which until recently I thought was FALSE, but as I’ve aged Greg told me
is actually TRUE!!
What I thought was cool is that you can find out how certain factors affect your weight.
Like for me fast food is likely to have the biggest impact on my weight followed by exercise.
Be sure to head to 23andMe.com/asap for the latest promotion on your kit.
As always, thanks for watching, be sure to subscribe for more weekly science videos every
Thursday, and we will see you next time!