We are all mutants because we carry 60 unique mutations

Have you ever fantasized about having some super power ?

I know if I could choose, I would opt for the ability to teleport, so that I don’t have to move so slowly and waste hours and hours moving from point A to point B.

The good news is, I probably have around 60 mutations that are 100 % unique to me, so it is possible, I have a unique version of a gene granting me some super human power. Stop laughing, it is possible………..

Mixing and matching creates novelty

In school, you were told that you are a mixture of genes from your mother and father. They usually tell you, that you get 50 % from Mom and 50 % from Dad, just so that both parents can feel like they are equal contributors to the deal. But the truth is, the split is not quite 50/50 because of independent assortment and crossing over etc.

But when my mother, yelled in anger that I was just like my father, I knew it was biologically not possible, some bits of her must have landed in my genome.

But a study that analyzed the full genome of two families, has revealed that in addition to the collection of traits I inherited from the two of them, there are a few that were created during my conception as well.

Novelty the spice of life

Basically what has happened is there have been a few typos in the transcribing of the documents. The typo happens more-or-less 1 in every 100 million DNA letters.

On paper at least, the typos can cause one of three scenarios in order of probability.

It doesn’t make any difference.
It is a disaster, you are broken and wind up with some horrible genetic disease
It is a huge success and some fabulous super power is conferred onto the recipient

The basic principle of evolution.

Mutations are part of “your package”

It is important to point out that these “special” mutations become part of the heritage that you will pass onto your kids.
So your kids could inherit your superpowers.

Mutations that are extraneous

These “special” mutations should not to be confused with mutations that can happen in a single cell (called somatic mutations). Every day, somewhere in your body, approx 300 typos are made.

The outcomes here are similar. Most of the time it doesn’t make any difference or it ends in disaster, a defective cell that implodes and dies. But, if your immune system is not on its toes and/or the mistake happens in a gene that regulates the cell cycle – the mutation leads to cancer.

So somatic mutations typically create super powered cells. Bad cells because they cause cancer but powerful, because they have the ability to take over and eventually take you out.

Waiting for my superpower to manifest

I realize the odds are pretty small, that I got a super special mutation during my conception.
But I am still waiting for my super power to manifest – hopefully I will morph into a super hero and single-handedly SAVE HUMANKIND some time soon.

Variation in genome-wide mutation rates within and between human families. Nature Genetics (2011) 43:712-714. Donald F Conrad, Jonathan E M Keebler, Mark A DePristo, Sarah J Lindsay, Yujun Zhang, Ferran Casals, Youssef Idaghdour, Chris L Hartl, Carlos Torroja, Kiran V Garimella, Martine Zilversmit, Reed Cartwright, Guy A Rouleau, Mark Daly, Eric A Stone, Matthew E Hurles, Philip Awadalla.