On Tue, 12 Dec 2006, Fragemann wrote:
> 3. I was told that the more introns that you have, the greater your
> lifespan. But if all genes are at fixed loci, how can one human have
> more introns than another? It seems to me that loci positions would
> restrict intron length.
Everyone has the same number of introns; every allele of a gene has the
same pattern of introns and exons.
Well, more or less - there will be a few small mutations that interfere
with splicing, and larger mutations that take out or duplicate entire
genes or bits of genes, which will lead to variation, but not an awful
lot.
Anyway, i know of no evidence for a correlation between number of introns
and lifespan.
Unless, of course, you mean across species. Short-lived, fast-reproducing
organisms tend to have fewer and smaller introns, since they slow down
replication.
> 4. Lastly, in the current modern society, which person has more genetic
> "fitness," the one who irresponsibly produces more children than they
> can afford, or the one who has fewer because they spend their time
> seeking a career, or because they are more responsible?
People who don't use usenet.
tom
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