Re: Intelligence on the X chromosome
Jim Cummins (firstname.lastname@example.org)
Mon, 19 Aug 1996 10:41:58 +0800
In article <email@example.com>, Matt Beckwith
> FYI, genes which are only inherited from the mother are those which are
> on the mitochondrion (a cellular element whose purpose is manufacturing
> energy, and which doesn't get sent over to the egg by the sperm during
> fertilization). Anybody know which genes these would be?
Wrong, sorry. The sperm DOES carry mtDNA into the egg, but it's diluted
out 10,000 fold by the maternal contribution. Check out
http://numbat.murdoch.edu.au/spermatology/sath01.html. The mtDNA has
about 16K base pairs encoding for a limited subset of the oxidative
phosphorylation pathway proteins. Deletions/mutations account for
maternally inherited mitochondrial diseases.
This is a common error in modern Anthropology text books - seems to have
been started by HG Wells about 50 years ago.