6 ms·
To me, the bilateralness is the super cool part. I imagine that this happens more often, but you just don't notice from a visual inspection.
by mbfg 3y ago
To me, the bilateralness is the super cool part. I imagine that this happens more often, but you just don't notice from a visual inspection.
- retrac 3y agoThere are multiple possible causes, but one is a phenomenon known as genetic mosaicism. That is when an organism is made up of multiple distinct genetic lineages, in species where this isn't typical. It can occur from things like twins merging in the womb, or from a stem cell in the embryo mutating and all its descendants being a little different. In humans (or birds) it often shows up in stripes (related to the basic developmental segments of the vertebrate animals) or indeed, bilateral. For a rather visible example: it is sometimes the cause of heterochromatic (different colour) eyes.
- bewaretheirs 3y agoAnd sometimes it can result in DNA test results showing that children are not related to their mother, if when you swab the mother you don't get the same lineage as the one that developed into her ovaries: https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/case-lydia-fairchild-and-her-chimerism-2002 https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/case-lydia-fairchild-and-her-ch...