107 réponses à ce sujet

[DevilBeast]

Facemelter91 wrote...

First the whole chirality thing bugs the hell out of me because that not how it works in the real world. If say I was to eat anything dextro based NOTHING would happen, I would get taste and it would pass through my body without any adverse side effects, well none that are of the allergic type, no nutrients would be taken out of said food because of its opposite chirality.

People are well aware it is NATURALLY impossible for them to have children, but as said quite a few times in this topic, there is science! Personally I head cannon a child that remains primarily Quarian, but is created with heavily, and perfectly strong and acceptable sperm, and of coarse along with a natural egg,

Feel a bit weird so heavily thinking about this, but there isn't much else that is particularly interesting to think about while at work that sparks an intelligent within mind contemplation. Also I'm sure the savior of the whole damned galaxy, the three time savior at that would be granted at least one "wish" regardless of credits that I'm sure will be thrown at him in the after math anyway.

Well, technically noone knows what would happen if we ever were to eat a lifeform which had dextro aminos instaed of levo since all life we know of is levo. The whole dextro thing is made up.

But since we are talking about what can and cannot happen in ME, not the real world, then it has been stated over and over that dextro and levo just doesn´t mix.

[Peranor]

Give Mordin a lab and enough time and maybe he can create some human-quarian hybrid.

But can humans and quarians ever breed the natural way? No way.

Can a human breed with a Chimpanzee? No, we can't. And yet we share the same basic proteins and 94-98% of the DNA =)

[Helios969]

Does the ME universe actually provide all this information on the different races protein structures and such to know whether or not two races are even compatible. (I know it's astronomically unlikely in reality but then so is the ME universe.) Or are people just following known biological knowledge and speculating about compatibility. I confess I spend little time on the canons.

[Peranor]

Helios969 wrote...

Does the ME universe actually provide all this information on the different races protein structures and such to know whether or not two races are even compatible. (I know it's astronomically unlikely in reality but then so is the ME universe.) Or are people just following known biological knowledge and speculating about compatibility. I confess I spend little time on the canons.

I think people is just following known biological knowledge.

[Shadowmourne07]

Human and Quarian reproduction is possible.
Now, before you get your torches and pitchforks here's how:

Human DNA consists of two long polymers arranged in a double helix. Within these helix the four nucleotides Adenine, Thymine, Guanine and Cytosine are repeated in groups of two called base-pairs throughout the helix (note that adenine can only pair with thymine and guanine and only pair with cytosine.)

It is these base-pairs that are the most basic of your genetic code. They would be like a single bit to use a computer metaphor.

During Meiosis (the creation of haploid sex cells such as sperm or ovum) the helix is split and is converted into two strands of RNA. These strands are split from the parent cell into a new cell. They undergo recombination which shuffles the genes producing a different genetic makeup for each gamete (sex cell).

Normally, the gametes from the father would be injected into the mother via sexual intercourse. From there they swim up the birth canal, into the womb and into the fallopian tubes. When a sperm comes in contact with an ovum the two strands of RNA, (one of the father's and one of the mothers) fuse and give rise to the offspring's genome.

However, because humans and quarians have different amino acids that form their base-pairs, standard reproduction is impossible, even if a sperm were able to enter the ovum, the cell would have no idea what to do with the genetic code. It would be like trying to make a circular peg fit in a square hole.

Despite this, it is still possible for a Quarian and a Human to have a baby. Here's how:

In the Mass Effect series, it is alluded to several times that despite evolutionary differences, there are still some universal concepts that all species have in common. Adrenaline(or the equivalent), oxygen transfer proteins, etc. The overall biology is very similar in alot of ways, its simply that many species use different materials to achieve the same results.

Quarians and Humans are very similar morphologically. Bipedal, sexual dimorphism, hair. They both give birth to live young. It would be a very fair guess that if quarians had a similar chilarity to that of humans, then their genetic codes would likely be very similar.

So, in order to affect quarian-human reproduction, you would need a geneticist, a lab, and healthy gametes from the aspiring parents.

Using the same logic as the Asari's form of reproduction, it would then be the geneticist's job to go through each chromosome and simply transcribe the father's genes and then pair them with the mother's.

Obviously, one would have to be careful not to create any debilitating mutations in the code and the
resulting child would be of the mother's species (or they would have to find a suitable surrogate if the parents wished the child to be of the father's race) but the offspring would still be theirs biologically.

In conclusion:
Quarimans are possible xP

[chemiclord]

DevilBeast wrote...

Well, technically noone knows what would happen if we ever were to eat a lifeform which had dextro aminos instaed of levo since all life we know of is levo. The whole dextro thing is made up.

But since we are talking about what can and cannot happen in ME, not the real world, then it has been stated over and over that dextro and levo just doesn´t mix.

Actually, that's not true.  Dextro proteins exist right here on Earth.  Many sugars, in fact, are dextro chirality.  They pass through our bodies with pretty much no trouble.

And in the spirit of fairness, in Mass Effect, as I understand it, the reaction is more an allergic one rather than a chemical one, which I can handwave as far more complex dextro proteins than what some human bodies are used to triggering an immuno response.

[KingZayd]

LukeSkywhacker2 wrote...

Stupid question perhaps (I stopped at highschool biology and wasn't brilliant even then) but is it theoretically possible for two not actually so closely related species to become similar enough to procreate anyway? As in mating compatibility somehow (theoretically) finding way despite the different ancestry of the species?

Their DNA would have to be similar enough. There are a bunch of mammals and marsupials that are very similar, but have very different ancestry and therefore very different DNA and so are incapable of reproducing.

Then there is the problem that their amino acids have different chirality, which would never change by itself, meaning a natural Human-Quarian offspring is very different.

You'd basically have to get a stem cell, change the DNA so that the chirality would match, and then grow it in-vitro (as it wouldn't match with it's parent). Then you'd have to hope their DNA was close enough to produce offspring, which realistically it wouldn't be.

[KingZayd]

LukeSkywhacker2 wrote...

Okay, so it does look like there is no reasonable ground on which to base even a weak probability that humans and quarians could breed. I guess we have a bit of a conflict between the science behind species generation, evolution and stuff, and the way quarians look and act so similar to humans in the game.

actually they can grow to physically resemble one another, assuming their habitats were very similar too. (and a lot of "dice rolls" went the same way) They just would have very differnt DNA, even though phenotypically they'd be very similar.