[Dragaera] Breaking the Cycle - Genetic Purity

[Maximilian Wilson]

On 8/28/06, Philip Hart <philiph at slac.stanford.edu> wrote:
> On Mon, 28 Aug 2006, Maximilian Wilson wrote:
>
> > On 8/28/06, Philip Hart <philiph at slac.stanford.edu> wrote:
> > > On Mon, 28 Aug 2006, Maximilian Wilson wrote:
> > > > Sounds like a good way to come out with a lot of non-Yendi
> > > > crossbreeds, if the Yendi male (say, Pel) passes on his non-Yendi
> > > > genes (say, Issola) instead.
> > >
> > > Well, it's complicated I think, and I didn't want to get into the
> > > whole mess since my genetics knowledge is puddle-shallow, but
> > > I can imagine a few scenarios: the allele in question is dominant,
> > > and most Yendi have two copies, in which case there would be no
> > > real crossbreeds.  Or many Yendi have one copy, so half of the
> > > children wouldn't be Yendi.  But those children wouldn't come back to
> > > House Yendi, keeping things pure on that side.
> >
> > Dragaeran genetics may be totally different from genetics as we know
> > it, but this doesn't make any sense under Mendelian genetics.
>
> Umm, I'm claiming that one copy makes for a Yendi.  Then ok there's a
> problem with having too many heterozygous Y - sometimes their children
> won't have the house characteristic - but presumably they'll be expelled.
> It's like having a non-adaptive allele that's fatal if homozygous -
> there would be a selection pressure against it.  I think that makes sense.
>
> I'm pretty sure Dragaeran genetics is human genetics.

The part that doesn't make sense is claiming simultaneously that 1.)
Yendi-ism is dominant, and 2.) most Yendi have two copies of the gene.

-M.

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