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;) We could just use statistics. Example: the DNA has 3.2*10^9 base pairs. We have trillions of cells. Even if each cell division introduced 1000 mutations,
by esahione 10y ago
;)
We could just use statistics.
Example: the DNA has 3.2*10^9 base pairs. We have trillions of cells. Even if each cell division introduced 1000 mutations, the cells would hit the Hayflick Limit at around 60 divisions. The last generation of a cell line would have 60000 mutations on average and the other cells less so.
It's nothing compared to the size of the DNA. I can't go through with the calculation right now but my guess is that it wouldn't take more than a billion cells to get to your birth DNA.
That part of my argument was just an easy way to deal with the writer's assumptions.
- x5n1 10y agoIf something is missing replace with frog DNA. Should not cause any problems.
- kbenson 10y agoCool, I've always wanted to procreate without the pesky inconvenience of sex... ;)
- schwabacher 10y agoAlso - we likely could correct most of the damage by sequencing only one or a few cells. Almost all human genetic variation is in a relatively small number of well known locations in the genome - if we assume mutations occur at random locations, we can fix almost all of them by looking at any reference genome.