What is a chimaera in biology?
Q: What is a chimaera in biology?
A: A chimaera is a single organism made of two genetically distinct cells, usually an animal.
Q: How do chimeras originate?
A: Chimeras can originate from two separate fertilized eggs or zygotes that fused together, or from the same zygote, in which case the organism is called a mosaic.
Q: What are dispermic chimeras?
A: Dispermic chimeras are chimeras that originate from distinct fertilized eggs that fused together.
Q: How are dispermic chimeras formed?
A: Dispermic chimeras are formed from at least two fertilized eggs or early embryos fused together.
Q: How do the different populations of cells in a dispermic chimera behave?
A: Each population of cells in a dispermic chimera keeps its own phenotype, and the resulting organism is a mixture of the two phenotypes.
Q: What is microchimerism?
A: Microchimerism is a form of chimerism in which a host harbors a small set of genetically distinct cells, often due to blood transfusion, transplant or pregnancy.
Q: What are epigenetic chimeras?
A: Epigenetic chimeras are chimeras that have been recently discovered in mouse models, in which the genetic information of some cells is modified by the environment without altering the DNA sequence itself.
