jamesp81 wrote...
Nashiktal wrote...
Eh, actually its pretty ambiguous, not direct proof. Take the Matriarch Aeythyta. She exhibits krogan behavior certaintly, but at the same time she was raised by a krogan herself. Other Asari that exhibit similar traits usually have "Fathers" that live just long enough to influence them somewhat.
So really, while I like the idea of the Asari children taking personality traits, it is still not proven with any certainty.
Yes, it could also be nurture vs nature. Aethyta's Krogan traits might be exhibited just because she raised by a Krogan father, and thus learned Krogan ways as a child.
I have wondered though, since Asari map the genome of their partner during the melding, if they can incorporate traits from their partner without incorporating the actual DNA? Science says that's unlikely.
In any case, other than the possible technicality with Asari, I don't see how interspecies children would be possible without genetically engineering one, and the result of that engineering probably wouldn't survive birth. And if it did, it would hardly qualify as half human half whatever anymore, it'd be its own species.
I have a theory about the Asari thing. I don't think they actually map their partner's genome, per se. I think it works a bit differently. Someone asked about Ardat-Yakshi, and why they only come from purebloods, and that gave me a clue as to how things could actually work.
Here is how it could work: the Asari contain a lot of genes, more than are expressed in them... they basically carry a bunch of alternate gene sets, related to previous ancestors, which acts as "junk" DNA until it's time for them to reproduce. Every time Humans reproduce, only about half of the parent's DNA is transmitted. What if the Asari have a few full or partial sets of Asari DNA, many of which are merely "inactive" and carried for use in reproductions? This also allows children to not be a direct clone of the mother, even if no genetic material is exchanged - the kid could be a combination of the mother, the great great grandmother, and an ancestor from 10,000 years ago.
There's one really bad Recessive gene, let's call it AY. So an Asari's genome could look like this:
OO OO
OT OT
OT OT
AY OT
OT TO
When the Asari mate with another species, the other species chooses which of the multitude of DNA the Asari carries is treated as "junk" and which is treated as "Expressed" DNA. The AY gene will only be chosen as an Expressed Gene if the other partner is also a carrier of the AY gene. No race other than the Asari have that gene, so only mating with other Asari (and only with other Asari who are also carriers) produces the chance of an Ardat Yakshi.
This could be why purebloods are views as unpopular - when an alien is used to randomize expression, you'll get a better randomization. When another asari is used, genes currently expressed by both parents are more likely to be chosen. This means you're more likely to get double recessives, though it's not guaranteed. It's like some genetic disorders in humans - they are more likely to occur if members of a genetic group that has that particular recessive interbreed, rather than marrying outside their genetic group.
It could be that, in a population where Asari breed only with each other, AY and other genetic disorders are more common. It's similar to the proscription against marrying your second cousin - in reality, marrying your second cousin produces very little increased likelihood of genetic defect. It's marrying cousins over dozens and dozens of generations, like in Medieval Europe, that causes problems.
So the Asari may have noticed that AY became less common when they started using other species to breed, and so it quickly became taboo to mate with the same species - even if the risk isn't any higher on average. This is similar to the taboo against marrying cousins on earth, no matter how distant they are. Many very distant cousins (fourth cousins, third cousins twice removed, that kind of things) are actually no more likely to be genetically similar to you than a random stranger, but there's still a taboo against dating them. (There's a hilarious 30 Rock episode about this.) In reality, pureblood breeding is only dangerous for the tiny minority who have the AY gene (or other rare, recessive disorder genes), but since breeding with a non-Asari means there's no risk at all, the prejudice continues.
Modifié par CulturalGeekGirl, 11 avril 2011 - 11:04 .
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