First person in the world that has been born with an extra strand of DNA

While Down Syndrome is a genetic mutation it is different in that DS is caused by the duplication of the 21st chromosome. From the information present in this little boys story his condition is a mutation of the 7th cromosome which has added and "extra arm". The implications and causes of this are unknown, but I don't suspect any foul play by scientist. This could simply be natures way of determining the best possible route for our evolution. A mutation of a single chromosome somewhere along the chain of DNA is bound to produce positive results eventually.

I do not think this is the "first" time this has happened, nor do I think it will be the last.

Originally posted by ldyserenity
reply to post by Thill

 

That's what happens when you're doing shrooms and weed when you're pregnant, and as far as I know it's not a first nor uncommon and does have a name extra chromosome=down's syndrome and it happens when people are heavy drug users while pregnant.

edit on 11-4-2011 by ldyserenity because: spelling

Umm.

Sarah Palin?

Originally posted by Thill
reply to post by ldyserenity

 

I see where You are coming from and I guess since You seem to have more knowledge in this field I will not argue about it

One thing I will argue about is the stated cause being drugs or inbreeding. I would say that besides those two I would add a third that is probably a major contributor to defects and that would be genetically modified food. I guess if this is a new discovery it will get more attention in the future, if it is a case of mislabeled downs syndrome then I guess it will just fade .

Sorry, but the poster is incorrect about all her statements. Just because she worked with the clients, doesn't mean she has been educated in the conditions, as evidenced by her posts.

The cause of Down Syndrom is known, and has nothing to do with drug use. It is due to aged, or defective ova. It is usually seen in older women. (Older than 35). There is a test called amniosentesis which can identify it in the pregnant women. Because it effects DNA, it cannot be corrected.

The problem given in the OP has nothing to do with Down Syndrome. The diagnosis in the OP is NOT common, and not easily mistaken for another syndrome. It is something quite different entirely.

There is another syndrome associated with alcolhol usage during pregnancy called Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.
Damage is caused to chomosomes enutero due to excessive alcohol consumption.

@Ladyserenity: Please know what you are talking about before you post. A simple investigation on google would have prevented you from posting such a mess. If you want to post your opinion, fine, but don't claim to be an "expert', while posting misinformation. Others might take you seriously.

From the article:

A two-year-old boy has become the only person in the world to be diagnosed with an extra strand in his DNA.

Note the discrepancy between the headline and the actual statement in the article - the word 'in".

It isn't possible to have an extra strand "of" DNA.

I'm not knocking the OP since s/he merely copied the article headline as presented by the link. I'm also not trying to be a smartalec but when I first read the title I knew it couldn't be accurate based on our current understanding of the double helical structure of DNA.

reply to post by amaster


Not only do I think a modification of a single chromosone would yield as you said "positive results", but perhaps we might begin seeing entire new strings of dna.

My belief is that higher civilizations in existence most likely have many more complete strands than we do. In fact, my belief is that our original dna was altered in our distant time/space continuum.

Human evolution will only move forward through Human ingenuity from this point on.

It would take millions of years for automated evolution to occur on such an advanced being which is Human, but we ourselves will push evolution to the next stage, we are already doing it by installing electronics to our brain to take over our daily functions.

We are the controllers.

reply to post by Thill

If this is a male child I just finished watch a frightning documentary called ( The Disappearing Male ) I wonder if at all what has happened to this boy is because Of the climate in which we live that we the people have contaminated with the materials we use in our every day to day use
The last few decades have seen steady and dramatic increases in the incidence of boys and young men suffering from genital deformities, low sperm count, sperm abnormalities and testicular cancer.
At the same time, boys are now far more at risk of suffering from ADHD, autism, Tourette’s syndrome, cerebral palsy, and dyslexia.
The Disappearing Male takes a close and disturbing look at what many doctors and researchers now suspect are responsible for many of these problems: a class of common chemicals that are ubiquitous in our world.
Found in everything from shampoo, sunglasses, meat and dairy products, carpet, cosmetics and baby bottles, they are called “hormone mimicking” or “endocrine disrupting” chemicals and they may be starting to damage the most basic building blocks of human development.. I dont know how to post my own topic here in ATS nor how to add a video, so here is the link, its a very interesting watch but disturbing
topdocumentaryfilms.com...

The test is reasonably simple.
Mostly, its just looking at the chromosomes under a microscope.
Dye them, look at them.

See this image here....



An operator with a bit of experience can visually identify the individual chromosomes, since they have differnt banding patterns, shapes and sizes.
(Third year genetics uni students have a bit more difficulty.)

Now imagine number 7 with an extra bit hanging off.

ahhhh the poor kid, hopefully he gets better quick, a boy with one of the most unique cases this world's ever seen has got to be able to live a life like any other person in the world. It just isnt fair in my opinion.
If this is the next stage in evolution, and we do begin to develop new strands of DNA, then hopefully we dont fall terribly ill like this poor child. Hopefully he recovers, and maybe we'll finally get to see those super powers everyone is craving to see

I'm just going to throw the thought out there that this probably isn't nearly as rare as everyone is making it out to be. Fetuses miscarry and newborns die quite often from various birth defects, and most of them probably aren't going to be tested after death with tests that would detect this condition. This is especially true in developing nations where the money and facilities just aren't there for testing.

By no means am I calling it common, but it's probably not anything special. It's a mutation that natural selection SHOULD and WOULD have 'eliminated,' but that medical science has kept alive.

And for what it's worth, the VAST, VAST, VAST majority (I don't want to say all for the sake of not backing myself into a corner with a one in trillions and trillions chance) of mutations on this scale are deadly, especially in higher animals such as ourselves.

Simple Equation:

Competitive Media Sphere + Lack of Science Knowledge + Shock Factor + Human Interest = nonsensical article that will sell papers/drive traffic to their website

Originally posted by TheBandit795
The article is misleading or incomplete at best. Three strands of DNA? I would need an explanation on how you can make a helix or similar shape with that. With the same base pairs...

It is not unheard of. Here is a link :


www.molecular-plant-biotechnology.info...


Three and four stranded DNA. Three stranded was first created in 1957. The four stranded DNA was found.....


....