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Inbreeding - (Apr/30/2007 )

Inbreeding may bring together desirable alleles in the homozygous condition. I think inbreeding is like one brother and sister from the same parents have baby together? or inbreeding only refers to animals?because if i was right, then we all know that the baby from a brother and sister will be abnormal because their genes are so similar, so how come here it can be desirable? Hope you can answer me, thanks.

-MIA6-

inbreeding doesn't only refer to animals. plants are inbred too.
if you mean humans are different from other animals... then well inbreeding does also happen there.
no all babies from brothers and sisters are abnormal. most will turn out just fine. nothing will be wrong, no double heads, no 6 toes.
in many cultures (ie ancient egypt) inbreeding was quite acceptible in the royality, in order to preserve the traits of the family. for instance, cleoplatera was the result of an incestuous relationship, and she was incredibly talented in languages, mathematics, history, and had incredible skill at managing her country (until that marc anthony came along). these were traits that her family were famous for. also, her family was famous for becoming morbidly obese...

the idea that only abnormal children will be produced from incestuous relationships is false. problems only arise when there is a bad recessive trait that runs in the family. i recall reading that the statics of havng a child with a deformity from a incestuous relationship compared to a child with a deformity from a *normal* relationship isn't significant. thought i could be wrong, it might be only slightly higher. but the idea of having anything to do with brothers and sisters (or close cousins) raises the ick factor, because diversity is needed to ensure survival of the species.

as to mice, it is desirable to have the mice wil the same genes, so we can limit the number of variables that are being studied. this is desirable only in an unnatural setting. in nature, having a diverse genetic background will help the species survive...darwin, evolution and all that jazz.

V

-vetticus3-