#microchimerism

[amber-tortoiseshell]

question: im making a story about genetically accurate cats with SOME unrealistic parts; in this universe, cats were experimented on by humans and given synthetic genes for some new colors (like a gene that gives a pink tint, or green tint, etc) and one character is a regular seal point who is a heterozygous carrier for pink tint with 2 pointed littermates who are recessive for it. i wanted to make it to where she has a pink streak in her fur, from where a few of a littermates cells attached to her in the womb- would this be possible, and would it be considered some sort of somatic mutation or chimaerism? Then again I'm already in unrealistic territory by having pink cats, but my autistic ass has make the unrealism realistic LOL.

Sibling or fetomaternal* cell sharing happens through the (fused) placenta, but i think it's maybe possible that the wandering cells would make it to the skin, as they are often stem cells. But honestly i have no idea if they could be 'right' type of stem cells, aka those that can differentiate into melanocytes.

*between the offspring and the mother. Your cat's mother evidently has the pink allele, so this would work just as well for you.

A sometic mutation (B on the figure above) would be for example her losing the wild type copy in an early cell, and thus exhibiting only the remaining pink allele. I think i'd chose this method for my semi-realistic fictional pink-streaked cat.

[autumnmobile12]

Me: *reads about microchimerism, which is how a firstborn child can leave DNA behind in their mother and those leftover cells can linger for years and sometimes be passed along to younger siblings*

Also me: So that's why she has red streaks in her hair.

[tepot]

The Most Mysterious Cells in Our Bodies Don’t Belong to Us

You carry literal pieces of your mom—and maybe your grandma, and your siblings, and your aunts and uncles.

During pregnancy, fetal cells migrate out of the womb and into a mother’s heart, liver, lung, kidney, brain, and more. They could shape moms’ health for a lifetime, Katherine J. Wu reports. The presence of these cells, known as microchimerism, is thought to affect every person who has carried an embryo, even if briefly, and anyone who has ever inhabited a womb. The cross-generational transfers are bidirectional—as fetal cells cross the placenta into maternal tissues, a small number of maternal cells migrate into fetal tissues, where they can persist into adulthood. ⁠

Genetic swaps, then, might occur several times throughout a life. Some researchers believe that people may be miniature mosaics of many of their relatives, via chains of pregnancy: their older siblings, perhaps, or their maternal grandmother, or any aunts and uncles their grandmother might have conceived before their mother was born. “It’s like you carry your entire family inside of you,” Francisco Úbeda de Torres, an evolutionary biologist at the Royal Holloway University of London, told Wu.⁠ Some scientists have argued that cells so sparse and inconsistent couldn’t possibly have meaningful effects. Even among microchimerism researchers, hypotheses about what these cells do—if anything at all—remain “highly controversial,” Sing Sing Way, an immunologist and a pediatrician at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, told Wu. But many experts contend that microchimeric cells aren’t just passive passengers. They are genetically distinct entities. And they might hold sway over many aspects of health: our susceptibility to infectious or autoimmune disease, the success of pregnancies, maybe even behavior. ⁠ If these cells turn out to be as important as some scientists believe they are, they might be one of the most underappreciated architects of human life, Wu writes. ⁠

[bodyalive]

“When pregnant, the cells of the baby migrate into the mothers bloodstream and then circle back into the baby, it’s called “fetal-maternal microchimerism”.⁠ For 41 weeks, the cells circulate and merge backwards and forwards, and after the baby is born, many of these cells stay in the mother’s body, leaving a permanent imprint in the mothers tissues, bones, brain, and skin, and often stay there for decades. Every single child a mother has afterwards will leave a similar imprint on her body, too.

Even if a pregnancy doesn't go to full term or if you have an abortion, these cells still migrate into your bloodstream. Research has shown that if a mother's heart is injured, fetal cells will rush to the site of the injury and change into different types of cells that specialize in mending the heart.

The baby helps repair the mother, while the mother builds the baby. This is often why certain illnesses vanish while pregnant. It’s incredible how mothers bodies protect the baby at all costs, and the baby protects & rebuilds the mother back - so that the baby can develop safely and survive.

Think about crazy cravings for a moment. What was the mother deficient in that the baby made them crave? Studies have also shown cells from a fetus in a mothers brain 18 years after she gave birth.

If you’re a mom you know how you can intuitively feel your child even when they are not there….Well, now there is scientific proof that moms carry them for years and years even after they have given birth to them.

Naturally Acquired Microchimerism

Celia Fitzgerald  Design by Nature

[banah-ishah]

Microchimerism occurs when cells from a pregnant mother and her unborn child are shared back and forth through the placenta... Sometimes the baby’s younger fetal cells can help the mother fight diseases and cancers during the pregnancy. After a child is born it has cells from the mother, and the mother has fetal cells from the child... Almost 6% of the cells in a mother's blood are the child’s after a mother gives birth... Right now some of your mother’s cells are somewhere in your body; many are forever locked in your brain and other organs. If you thought that you and your mother share a special connection, well it just got a little deeper. The sharing happens with previous sibling’s cells as well as grandmother’s and aunts’ and uncles’ cells... Apply microchimerism to the mystery of the Incarnation. Mary would have had 6% of her blood cells being that of her Son’s, and Jesus would have had Mary’s cells in His body. Imagine the glorious physical communion!... Jesus would always be with Mary physically, and Mary would always be with Jesus. Jesus would carry with Him his mother’s cells peppered all across His Body. In fact, some of Mary’s cells (by DNA) would die on the cross with Jesus. Science literally is telling us that some of the cells in Jesus’ pierced Heart were originally His Mother's. I bet Simeon never thought about that when he told Mary her heart too would be pierced. A little bit of the Blessed Mother would have hung on the cross and died with Jesus.

http://www.catholic365.com/article/5825/what-jesus-and-mary-shared.html

Cells of Jesus remained alive within Mary long after his death...

[wrongerzyan]

Minarabymic: a term for those who have microchimerism, but it is nevertheless an important part of their identity for one reason or another. The term comes from the Akkadian phrase Mina rabûm, which translates into English as "something more." Akkadian (Assyro-Babylonian) is an ancient East Semitic language used in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq and Syria) from the 3rd millennium BCE to the 1st millennium CE. It was the language of communication, culture, and diplomacy in the Akkadian Empire, Babylonia, and Assyria, using cuneiform for writing. The language ceased to be used by the 8th century BCE, giving way to Aramaic.

The term is categorically opposed to violence and discrimination. It cannot be used for purposes of violence or as an excuse. The term is categorically against Radqueers.

[mohinidelphina]

reading about microchimerism rn this shit is craaaaazy

[mizelaneus]

The Most Mysterious Cells in Our Bodies Don’t Belong to Us

You carry literal pieces of your mom—and maybe your grandma, and your siblings, and your aunts and uncles.