Does a mans DNA also contain the genetic information of a woman?

Question

For example, if aliens adbucted a man would they know what a woman looked like from examining his genetic code?

The same goes for women, do they have male genetic information?

Answer 1

Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes (not 36) and 22 out of those 23 pairs are identical in men and women. The crucial chromosome pair, which determines sex, either has two similar chromosomes (XX) or two quite different ones (XY). In the first case the person becomes a woman; in the second case, a man. The Y chromosome, though very small, is quite different to the X, and contains the "extra" information to turn the embryo into a man. A man therefore contains all the information needed to make a woman, but a woman does not contain the extra information to make a man - in that sense, female is the "base" gender and males are a "modification". Nature invents males to make sex possible!

When a baby is conceived, it gets one chromosome of each pair from each parent. So it always gets an X from the mother, which may either be the X she got from her father or the X from her mother. The baby also gets, from the father, either the father's mother's X or his father's father's Y (which is also his father's Y of course), and this determines the sex of the baby. So men cannot have their father's X chromosome (or they would be a woman) and their Y chromosome can only come from their father. This means that some characteristics only pass down the male line, but not many because the Y chromosome is very small - small but effective! :-) (Where have you heard that before, girls?)

I think if aliens wanted to know what men and women looked like, though, they would just watch the telly.

Answer 2

Genetically the only difference between a man and a woman is that a woman has two X chromosomes whereas a man has an X and a Y. Since a Y chromosome is slightly shorter than an X chromosome the genetic information to make a woman would be contained in part of the X chromosome. However since all men carry an X chromosome they would contain the information required to make a woman. It does not necessarily follow that a woman has male genetic information: the genes on the Y chromosome might be different to those on the X chromosome. (If someone wants to do some more research this should be check-able.)

There have been documented cases of XY genotypes being assigned as female, including one following a circumcision accident. As far as I know the reverse is not true. This suggests that men do contain the genetic information required to make a woman but the reverse may not be true.

Answer 3

The sperm and the egg play an equal part in creating a zygote or in other words a baby. People are born with 46 chromosomes and they obtain these by getting 23 from their mom and 23 from their dad. Genetic disorders are caused by mutations of these chromosomes. The only real difference in creating a child between the two is that a sperm is made up of an XY chromosome and a female egg as an XX chromosome. These determine which gender we have; men have X and a Y and females have two X's. Hope I helped.

Answer 4

It doesn't contain the genetic information of a woman, and since DNA is unique to an individual, all the aliens could really tell would be what the man in question looked like.

If they wanted to experiment with his sperm, however, it's correct that men have the chromosomes required to create both male and female offspring, given the presence of the Y chromosome.
This is not true of women, it's males who determine the sex of their offspring.

Answer 5

Yes, apart from the man has the Y chromosome which contains genes only found in the man. The SRY (i think its that) gene is found on the Y chromosome and is required for a foetus to develop as a man, with out it the foetus will develop as a woman. For example if a man XY has a mutation in the SRY gene then a XY female will result.

Answer 6

Human DNA is a pair of nucleic acid chain. One from the sperm (simplified - male's egg) and one from the ovum (simplified - female's egg). Therefore, examining the one from the female can give information of a woman. A clever alien need only to abduct a woman to get a complete DNA - man has one incomplete chromosome.

Answer 7

sperms contain the genetic info that dictates whether the baby will be a girl or a boy and that special genetic code is only one leg of one chromosome out of 36...the difference between
XX and XY...notice if u draw an extra leg on Y it becomes X
everytime a woman is pregnant she has 50/50 chance of having a boy/girl.

since our semen contains billions of sperms, if an alien were to examine them all, theyd basically see a billion different people...half of them are male and half female

Answer 8

hmm! interesting question! When a woman falls pregnant the embreo is always female to start with, it is only when the development of the geitals occurs that the sex of the baby is determined (hence why you cannot tell the sex of a baby from ultrasound until 12 weeks at the very earliest, and i also explains why men have nipples!!)

Therefore men must contain the genetic dna of a woman.

Answer 9

wow I read all those answers, and yes only males can make both sexes, because he has the genes that make male hormones in the right quantities to produce males. however just for interest, the male also carries the genetic blueprint of his mother, and mothers mother and so on because mitochondrial dna is transferred in the sperm when a zygote is formed. only sperm have mitochondria the ova do not......how interesting eh? this is the method used in ancestry, ie where we originate from

Answer 10

yes, indeed ,of his mother actually when new zygote is formed its due to the combination of sperms from father and oocyte or egg from mother and their genes combine so any individual wheather a girl or a boy has DNA part or u can say genes derived from both the parents. (if u want more information contact me at [e-mail]