Remain clam, I am hijacking your ovum
Carl Zimmer on Androgenesis - further proof that when it comes to reproduction, nature is more daring than any science fiction writer:
Androgenesis, it turns out, transforms fatherhood into a parasitic invasion. It begins like normal fertilization, with a sperm fusing to an egg. But then the egg’s DNA gets hurled out of its nucleus, so that the sperm’s genes are the only ones left in the egg. The egg begins to develop into an embryo, but only after it has lost the mother’s DNA.
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You’re currently reading “Remain clam, I am hijacking your ovum,” an entry on Distractions
- Published:
- 01.04.08 / 5pm
- Category:
- Oddities
- Tags:
- androgenesis, nature+is+weird, reproduction
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