genes from dam

[Linda_Merims@ne.3com.com]

Donna Dochterman said:

>>Momma244@aol.com asked
>>"is it true that a foal gets 70% of genes from the dam?"
>
>Not exactly.  The mare supplies 50% of the genes for the foal and the
>stallion supplies the other 50%.  However, the mare has more influence
>on the foal's phenotype (what he looks like and acts like) than the
>stallion.  The mare supplies the foal's entire pre-natal environment
>plus a large portion of its environment at least up to weaning...

One caveat:

There is also DNA in the cell mitochondria.  A foal inherits
*all* of its mitochondrial DNA from its dam (the mitochondria
floating in the haploid egg itself).

This is provocative in an endurance horse since the mitochondria
are the so-called energy factories of the cell where much of
the metabolism of stored nutrients into energy occurs.

However, to my knowledge, nobody knows just what mitochondrial
DNA actually does, if anything.

Tracing human ancestry through mitochondrial DNA was the
basis of all those "Eve" stories that were going around nine
or ten years ago wherein it was said that all people were
descended from one female in central Africa dating from 10 or
15,000 years ago (or some number, I forget).

Just another one of those intriguing mysteries...

Linda B. Merims
lbm@ici.net
Linda_Merims@ne.3com.com
Massachusetts, USA



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