A long time ago someone told me that our DNA changes from human to human so if you have a lot of sex partners or even kissing through saliva your DNA gets altered. Is this true?
Short answer: No. Understand that when you talk about "your DNA," you're talking about every cell in your body. They all have the same DNA. It's unreasonable to suggest that if you kiss someone, that person's DNA is going to alter the DNA in all your millions of cells. You're safe. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I still wonder though that if you have a lot of sex partners or even just any bodily fluid from multiple people your DNA gets contaminated or altered and it did seem like it was possible. For example, say you go out with someone and even if you only kiss where saliva is exchanged their DNA is transferred to you and my friend told my that is why people with many partners often have serious medical problems at some point or go insane because their DNA gets confused with all the different DNA mingling.
Please re-read my first response. There are millions of cells in your body and each one has its own copy of your DNA. It's ludicrous to suggest that an external force could possibly change all those millions of copies of your DNA--and get them all the same way! If you think this is possible, then please explain the mechanism. Your friend is an idiot. Please don't invite him to join SciForums. We already have our quota of idiots here. When you kiss somebody, their saliva goes into your stomach and is digested just like the cow DNA in the hamburger you had for lunch. It is DESTROYED. I wonder what your weird friend thinks is going to happen to you if your DOG kisses you!
Because what you ingest goes into your blood stream and saliva contains DNA. If a dog licks your arm that is different and you dont tongue kiss your dog, i hope. A hamburger is cooked so i cannot see how DNA would be viable and this would only apply to human DNA since non-human DNA this route is not possible for transfer. To be honest, i would not be surprised if daily tongue kissing would only take at least a month until you begin to inherit some characteristics of the other person and if you do this with numerous people your DNA could get sent for an irreversible loop. If you make out with a killer you may find yourself with the desire to kill, your IQ can drop if you make out with someone stupid or especially numerous stupid people, you undergo confusion and say "this is not who i am"...."this is not me, i attacked someone the other day and i am not violent". Also, your stomach acid does not destroy DNA is that right since DNA can be found in the stomach lining right?
Well this is certainly embarrassing. I strongly suggest you stop and cut your losses and google to see if kissing can alter your DNA. Edit to add: your friend does in fact appear to be an idiot.
DNA does change overtime. It’s called mutation. Mutations occur quite regularly, and many of these mutations are detected and destroyed by the body (e.g. apoptosis) or corrected by the body through other means, but some are not. Our bodies have the ability to repair many DNA defects. The Wise Geek URL below provides a good explanation. Additionally, diseases like herpes are spread with direct skin on skin contact. They don’t need to go through the stomach in order to infect people. DNA mutations occur with or without sexual contacts and with or without viral exposure. Exposure to sunlight or ingestion of food or the breathing of air could cause DNA damage (i.e. mutation). Are you going to stop breathing to avoid possible exposure to carcinogens? There is a lot of new and exciting work going on now using viruses to repair damaged DNA. It’s a promising field of study and a number of companies are looking to commercialize this new technology. http://www.wisegeek.org/can-your-dna-change-during-your-life.htm "Many people are used to thinking of DNA as unchanging programming that governs all the body's responses for the rest of a person's life. In essence, certain things about our DNA are unlikely to change, ever. There are a number of outside things that could result in minor DNA change," - Wise Geek http://www.forbes.com/sites/paulrodgers/2014/02/03/bodys-immune-system-kills-mutant-cells-daily/ "DNA damage can be subdivided into two main types: endogenous damage such as attack by reactive oxygen species produced from normal metabolic byproducts (spontaneous mutation), especially the process of oxidative deamination also includes replication errors exogenous damage caused by external agents such as ultraviolet [UV 200-400 nm] radiation from the sun other radiation frequencies, including x-rays and gamma rays hydrolysis or thermal disruption certain plant toxins human-made mutagenic chemicals, especially aromatic compounds that act as DNA intercalating agents viruses[5]" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_repair But if you are concerned that sexual encounters with multiple partners will cause major changes to your DNA that is a big stretch. You won’t be suddenly morphing into a new species or growing another head if that is what you are getting at.
No, it isn't embarrassing. Did you google it? Post a link to the results. Supposedly there is no DNA in the stomach but i did not get good results for verification although i didnt google i binged. And i am curious, how would you know if the DNA is not altered?
I am not concerned for myself. Joe listen, the theory is that over time small changes can occur so you inherit aspects of the other person personality via DNA in saliva or any bodily fluids. This does not seem far fetched to me and people who have had numerous partners can become confused due to all the different DNA and also can pick up bad habits, they lose themselves because the DNA contamination is slowly albeit slightly changing who they are.
No. The closest you would come to that happening is if you were infected with a virus (like HIV or herpes) from a sex partner, and the virus and its genetic material multiplied in your cells.
I seem to remember seeing a movie on the Sci-Fi Channel or someplace with a plot like that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Species_II Maybe it was a documentary. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
No, that isn't going to happen. DNA is fairly stable. Given promiscuity isn't a recent development, one would expect to see some evidence to support your belief. But there is none.
I have heard that after a while people start to look like their dogs. I always thought it was just a cute coincidence, but maybe it is possibly more nefarious, like they are "exchanging bodily fluids" or something? eeewwwww
Yes, it can. But only for you. The rest of us are fine. This means that you should never have any form of sexual contact, lest you reproduce.
IMO, DNA can be damaged in individual cells and can be seen as a local physical anomality which does not affect the billions of other cells in your body. Cancer is a clear example of damaged DNA, but when we develop a cancer our entire body does not become cancerous, just the locality with the damaged DNA. When we kill the cancer, the person is as good as new. Any ingested DNA gets destroyed in our digestive system. If we eat meat from a cow, is it possible that we might begin to look like a cow? If we ingest slobber from a dog do we start to look like a dog? More than likely, we select a dog that looks like us. A big man may select a big dog. A fat person might select a chubby dog. A thin person might select a greyhound. However, direct mixing of DNA from different individuals (mating) always results in altered DNA in their offspring which will have DNA from both parents. There are exceptions to this, the Silvery Salamander mates with a male of a different species of salamander, but rejects its sperm, even as the act of mating initiates cell division in the females' eggs. Consequently all offspring are (female) clones of its mother. There are no male Silvery Salamanders. The following presentation illustrates the continual reproduction of cells. Note the term "exquisite fidelity" of the process of cell division used by Drew Berry. http://www.ted.com/talks/drew_berry_animations_of_unseeable_biology
You seem to be confusing DNA with the "mirror neural network", which establishes empathy between individuals and may tend to start mimicking each other's behaviors. Even if live foreign DNA entered the body (fresh meat, saliva), it's cells would self replicate, but the DNA would always be separated from the human DNA cells which are protected from invasion by foreign organisms. As far as I understand it, DNA mingling only occurs during fertilization. Any natural mutations are usually a result of, http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/variation/mutation/ In any case, why would the introduction of DNA lead to insanity? By stroking someone's hair? A kiss? A handshake? However, as I understand it, there are some beneficial bacteria (in the gastric system) which have been with us for such a long time that they have become part of human DNA. But that probably took a few hundred million years and because it was beneficial for survival.
I was going to make a similar point. We are all in intimate contact with the DNA of millions of living things around us, all the time. Our guts and even reproductive tracts are full of organisms with DNA. None of these alters our own DNA (except for viruses, which reproduce by hijacking our cellular machinery to make copies of themselves.) So the idea that contact with DNA from another person alters what the DNA of our cells must obviously be untrue.
