Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.csd.uwm.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!ames!oliveb!pyramid!prls!philabs!ttidca!jackson
From: jackson@ttidca.TTI.COM (Dick Jackson)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Question about Ferilization Genetics
Message-ID: <5760@ttidca.TTI.COM>
Date: 1 Sep 89 15:14:53 GMT
Reply-To: jackson@ttidca.tti.com (Dick Jackson)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Citicorp/TTI, Santa Monica
Lines: 17

My girlfriend and I had this big argument -- I am hoping that at least one
good person in this group will help settle it.

Its about the variability in offspring from the same parents.  I claimed
that eggs and sperm from the same people contain identical genetic
material and that variations in offspring occur because of semi-random
combination when fertilization occurs.  She maintains that sperm and eggs
are all different at the gene level.

The argument made us realise how ignorant we were about exactly what
happens when chromasomes (sp?) come together and how the strands of DNA
get combined -- is this known in detail?

She is a nurse and should know this stuff; as an engineer I feel my
ignorance is totally excusable.

Dick Jackson