More Like Dad Than Mom

A baby holding his father's hand

It is widely known that mammal offspring get an equal amount of genes from both parents, however a new study proves that more DNA from the father is used in comparison to the mother. This was shown in an article in Science Daily. Dr. Fernando Pardo-Manuel de Villena, a genetics professor, explained that scientist had already known that nearly 100 genes were inherited more from one parent as opposed to the other (this is called the "parent-of-origin effect"). This new study proves that there are thousands of genes have this effect.

A major reason why this research could be done, and with such success, is due to the Collaborative Cross, which is yields the the largest mouse population with a widely diverse gene pool. Due to the genetic variation in this population, these mice can be used for this study because it closely resembles the human population. This study concluded that a a large percentage of genes was indeed inherited from the father.

This research can potentially answer a lot of genetic questions when it comes to heredity. It is fascination to think that while one could very much resemble their mother, that they still utilize a majority of their father's genes.

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