chimeric marmosets

[eub]

From katybeth:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/27/science/27marm.html?pagewanted=print

The pattern was different from one marmoset to the next. “A single individual might be chimeric for hair and liver, for example, and not for anything else,” Dr. Ross said.

One of the most surprising results of the study is that over half of male marmosets have chimeric sperm. [...] In other words, the sperm came from one male, but it had the DNA of the male’s brother.
[...]
The discovery of rampant chimerism in marmosets led the Nebraska scientists to wonder if it affected how parents treated their children. Primates can recognize their offspring by distinctive odors. But a marmoset with chimeric skin would give off two odors — its own, and that of its twin sibling.

The scientists found that mothers carried babies with chimeric skin less than they carried babies with only one set of skin cells. Fathers, on the other hand, carried chimeras over twice as much as non-chimeras.

Comments

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

Did you read about the semi-identical twins who "share all of their mother's DNA but only half of their father's."? Also some interesting stories in that thread about marmosets and women who only produce XY eggs because their ovaries are mostly male.

[marzipan-pig.livejournal.com]

Huh. That's interesting about the male/female carrying difference. (Re your other comment: we were expressing some concern about 'semi-identical' twins at work but, extremely rare is good, means not haing to dismantle the entire concept of twin research quite yet).