Mutating

[ps2huang]

Is there any chance that we see a human/species mixed mutant? Like those creatures we saw in Resident Evil?

Is it possible we mix up DNA and RNA of humen and some other livings to see the worst solider-creature?

[Mokele]

Slim to none. Aside from the fact that anyone even attempting it would run into so many problems with ethical review boards that they'd be crushed to death beneath the mountain of paperwork and justifications, I seriously doubt that it would work (and, even if it could be made to work, the effort of doing so would render it unfeasible compared to other methods).

 

The main problem is development. When an organism develops, there's a lot of cell-to-cell signaling going on. If you mix human and non-human DNA, or just mix the cells together (called a chimera), you're going to get some mixed and contradictory signals going on about what goes where and why. It'd produce some pretty f-ed up looking spontaneously aborted fetuses, but I doubt anything viable.

 

Mokele

[lethalfang]

Donkey and horse can make mules, so it's not impossible to mix the DNAs of human and some closely related to human creatures.

However, creatures that can jump over buildings and lift trucks as those seen in sci-fi horror movies are next to impossible.

[Mokele]

Donkey and horse can make mules, so it's not impossible to mix the DNAs of human and some closely related to human creatures.

 

But donkeys and horses are practically identical anyway. They undergo more or less the same developmental plan, so there's not much chance of the screw-ups I described.

 

However, all of the human congenerics are either extinct or in the White House, meaning there is nothing with a sufficiently similar developmental plan to us. The story of human evolution is one of neoteny, in which we retain juvenile features throughout life, or have re-written the later developmental stages. That's what makes us so smart: we have a child's brain with a child's neural plasticity. Any hybrid, even with a chimp, would either be stillborn or so deeply retarded as to be an embarassment to both species.

 

Mokele

[ps2huang]

Well, I heard some doctors used kidneys of pigs to replace some patients' kidneys.

[Glider]

You heard wrong. As far as I know, only once has a pig kidney been used in a human. in 1906 a pig kidney was grafted to a woman. She lived for only an hour. Of all transplant organs, the kidney is one of the problematic when it comes to rejection. This can't yet be solved in human to human transplants. Inter species renal transplant is out of the question so far. I did read a piece of research on the potential for simian donors though. It investigated the potential use of baboon kidneys, but again, rejection is an issue and it'll be some time before that can be overcome.

 

[Edit] However, renal transplant and the problems due to the paucity of donor organs is a strong argument for stem cell research and organ cloning.

[Bluenoise]

Well, I heard some doctors used kidneys of pigs to replace some patients' kidneys.

 

Talk about off topic

 

Seriously what were you thinking?

[donkey]

However, all of the human congenerics are either extinct or in the White House

lawffles :-D

[scientistsahai]

Can this mixing up be done in microorganisms and we may come up with a new one that helps mankind in fighting other microbes or decomposing plastics,increasing O₂ production etc.

 

Out of DNA and RNA which is a better alternative ?

[Mokele]

Can this mixing up be done in microorganisms and we may come up with a new one that helps mankind in fighting other microbes or decomposing plastics,increasing O2 production etc.

 

That's basically what genetic engineering is. Add stuff to bacteria to make them do useful things.

 

Out of DNA and RNA which is a better alternative ?

 

DNA is vastly more stable than RNA, which breaks apart and degrades much more quickly.

 

Mokele

[alibabba]

But donkeys and horses are practically identical anyway. They undergo more or less the same developmental plan' date=' so there's not much chance of the screw-ups I described.

 

[u']However, all of the human congenerics are either extinct or in the White House,[/u] meaning there is nothing with a sufficiently similar developmental plan to us. The story of human evolution is one of neoteny, in which we retain juvenile features throughout life, or have re-written the later developmental stages. That's what makes us so smart: we have a child's brain with a child's neural plasticity. Any hybrid, even with a chimp, would either be stillborn or so deeply retarded as to be an embarassment to both species.

 

Mokele

 

Do we have anything in the way of moderators on this forum?

 

If this is a thread about biology, lets talk biology. You can find plenty of outlets for your political "opinion" in the politics part of the forum.

[Mokele]

It's called "humor". If you're too thin-skinned to be able to take a bit of topical humor, even if from a POV you disagree with, then how are you even able to cope with life?

 

Mokele

[alibabba]

It's called "humor". If you're too thin-skinned to be able to take a bit of topical humor' date=' even if from a POV you disagree with, then how are you even able to cope with life?

 

Mokele[/quote']

 

Well as "biology expert" I wouldn't expect you to understand it even if I took the time to explain it to you.

 

But it goes something like this:

 

For someone who knows as much about political affairs as you seem to, to characterize the President as somehow lacking the intellectual capability to be president, borders on-indeed crosses over into-the absurd.

[Mokele]

For someone who knows as much about political affairs as you seem to, to characterize the President as somehow lacking the intellectual capability to be president, borders on-indeed crosses over into-the absurd.

 

Gee, humor having an element of the absurd and exagerration? Who'd've thought?

[LCD]

I thionk what he was really wondering is if genetic engineering can make an elephant the size of a pig, to have as a pet. I think we should try and splice pig and elephant DNA.

[donkey]

haven't you heard the song? pig and elephant DNA just won't splice!

[rakuenso]

But donkeys and horses are practically identical anyway. They undergo more or less the same developmental plan' date=' so there's not much chance of the screw-ups I described.

 

However, all of the human congenerics are either extinct or in the White House, meaning there is nothing with a sufficiently similar developmental plan to us. The story of human evolution is one of neoteny, in which we retain juvenile features throughout life, or have re-written the later developmental stages. That's what makes us so smart: we have a child's brain with a child's neural plasticity. Any hybrid, even with a chimp, would either be stillborn or so deeply retarded as to be an embarassment to both species.

 

Mokele[/quote']

 

is it possible to clone some of the human hybrids such as the neandrathals and etc. via somatic nuclear transfer and planted inside a women's womb? since I think us and neandrathals are genetically similar enough such that the embryo might be able to develop successfully, although the kid would be pretty retarded.

 

 

but as to why anyone would want to do it is a whole different story

[Evangelante]

I think the next best way to combine genes would actually be to mutate one of the species first to be close to the genetic order of the other creature. Then from there you could possibly mix genes.

 

I wonder about the gene order of the so called werewolf human people. The ones who have a lot of hair all over their body that is unnatural. Perhaps with more of a mutation in them they could possible become closer to actually splicing.

[Bluenoise]

I doubt it. Full body hair is apparently due to a single gene, they are no less human then the rest of us. They just posess a unique trait. To perform a proper splice you'd most likely have to rearrange chromosomes and genes to line up properly then you'd have to consider the implications of 1000's of new gene interactions. It would probably just be easier to modify one organims into what you want then to actually combine two different sents of Chromosomes.

[newty]

To the original question: no chance. Perhaps in a few centuries we may have accumulated enough knowlwdge and have the necessary technology to do it. But, practically speaking, it is highly improbable that one would get it to work. Now, getting it to work properly and obtaining the desired end result is another matter altogether.

 

Chimeras are possible in vitro, but only in controlled circumstances with the right cells (most common example is the process of generating monoclonal antibodies). In vivo chimeras? Well, i can imagine that you can combine stem cells from organism a and organism b, but to get a fully functional chimera organism is quite hard.

 

As mentioned above by Mokele, justification can stand in the way if you are going for public funds. Most likely if the technology/knowledge advacnes such that we can do this, it would be banned. What female wants to carry a fetus that probably has a 0.0001% chance of having no deformities. Disclaimer: I made up the number, so don't attack me about it or ask me to back it up.

 

Coffee time is over.

 

Newty