Roxanne Khamsi: We Are All Genetic Mosaics
About this episode
Roxanne Khamsi discusses the concept of genetic mosaics and the implications of somatic mutations for health.
“You are a slightly different genetic version of yourself today from yesterday, and will be different yet again tomorrow.”—Roxanne Khamsi “Each neuron really is a beautiful and unique snowflake”—Ed Yong Roxanne Khamsi is one of the leading life science journalists, a contributing writer at The Atlantic , recognized with multiple awards for notable publications. Her new book is entitled BEYOND INHERITANCE. It tells the story about us all being genetic mosaics, chock full of somatic (acquired) mutations, and the implications of those mutations for our health. The myth of a single genome, carbon copy, master blueprint, but instead a dynamic, shifting mosaic in constant internal evolution. And here’s the back cover. I was delighted to endorse this book, and reread it to prepare for our podcast. It’s extraordinary and mind-bending. Here are the topics we covered: — The Math . 330 billion cells of our ~37 trillion turnover each day, which yields trillions of mutations per day. — Cellular competition . Winners and losers of an “endoevolution,” Darwinian selection inside us whereby healthy or super-fit mutated cells can crowd out the unfit ones. This was theorized in 1881 in a book THE…
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