Is it true that our resemblance to our parents depends on the number of inherited genes?

Is it true that the genetic contribution of the father and mother is the same

The nucleus of almost every human cell contains 46 chromosomes, and each of them is packed with a long strand of DNA. You can imagine it as an instruction book for assembling the body - in accordance with it, the body will produce the necessary proteins.

A child receives 23 chromosomes from each parent. It would seem, really equally, but everything is not so simple. After all, not every inherited gene will be active.

It's all about the work of a special mechanism - imprinting. In the germ cells of the parents, some genes are “marked” in a certain way - they are methylated, and they will not be expressed in the offspring.

If any of them is imprinted in the spermatozoon, the trait that it defines will be completely inherited from mother. And vice versa.

Scientists supposethat there are several hundred imprinted genes in the body. They can affect various features of the body - from body size to sleep and memory.

And although the mother and father pass on about the same number of these “turned off” genes, it is still possible that you will receive more from one of the parents.

However, this only applies to DNA located in the nucleus. In addition to it, there is another source genetic information that is transmitted only from the mother - mitochondrial DNA (mDNA).

What traits are determined by mitochondrial DNA

Mitochondria are cell organelles, such "power stations". They oxidize nutrients and produce ATP, molecules that provide energy for all biochemical processes in the body.

Unlike all other organelles, mitochondria There is its own DNA. It is rather meager and encodes only 13 polypeptides - molecules that are involved in energy production.

Of course, such information is not enough to fully determine how the mitochondrion will work, so many of the proteins in this organelle are encoded by the nuclear DNA. However, her own genetic information also matters.

Scientists have found that from mDNA depends Maximum Oxygen Consumption (MOC) is the body's ability to use oxygen efficiently. And this indicator, in turn, is associated with success in any sport where endurance is needed. After all, the more oxygen the body can absorb, the longer the muscles will be able to work at a given intensity.

Both the initial level of the IPC, and the rate at which it increases due to training, depend on a certain type of mutation (haplogroup) in mitochondrial DNA.

How strongly do genes determine resemblance to parents

If we take into account mitochondrial DNA, it turns out that we receive more genes from the mother. True, this does not mean that you will be more like her than your father. First, due to the already mentioned imprinting, it may turn out that more “turned off” genes are transmitted from the mother.

But that's not all. Even if you get more active genes from her (and mDNA to boot), this does not mean that your similarity will be obvious.

Julia Kiseleva explains that genes determine not only the physical qualities that we usually notice, but also others, no less important signs: how the body will work, what diseases a person will be prone to, what character he will have, what talent and much more.

And even if you got more “working” genes from one of parents, this does not mean that you will become a copy of it. The fact is that imprinting is updated in each sex cell. This means that the gene transmitted by the parent can be “turned off” in him, but in you it will be expressed.

In this case, on the basis that he defines, you will be more like, for example, a grandmother.