is it possible for a child not to have matching DNA of it's biological mother?

Answer 1

Yes, it is very possible. However, it is rare with humans but more prevelant with animals. It is a condition called chimera.

And yes, it was on 2 different shows, the discovery channel and a Lifetime show, Strong Medicine.

Please check it out here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimera_%28genetics%29

Answer 2

I can think of three ways this might happen.

First of all, there's always scientific intervention. We already have people who are 'surrogate mothers' for others - a fertilized egg from a different woman is implanted in the uterus, so the woman who gives birth to a child has no genetic relationship to it whatsoever. But maybe you weren't thinking of this.

Second of all, there's mutation. Sperm- and egg-producing tissues are particularly prone to mutation, and given the vast size of the genome it is a virtual certainty that a child will probably have at least a few changes in the entirety of his DNA. This isn't a huge difference... some DNA matching techniques might not even pick it up. But it's a possibility.

Lastly, there is a condition called 'mosaicism'. Sometimes, a mother releases two eggs at the same time. And sometimes more than one sperm manages to fertilize a single egg. Every now and then when this happens, the different cells end up going together into one embryo. This produces a creature that has different DNA in different tissues, sort of like a mosiac is made up of lots of different tiles. As others have mentioned, such a being is sometimes referred to as a 'chimera'.

This even happens to humans. There was a case not too long ago where a mother nearly lost custody of her children because it was found that her DNA did not match the DNA of her children (link 1 for evidence). Closer analysis revealed one of the very rare cases of mosaicism - she had TWO different sets of DNA (only one set in each cell, though), and depending on where you took the sample you'd get either one or the other.

So even in this last case you might say the child was still had matching DNA... as long as you find the right set to match!

Answer 3

I saw this science show, I think it was on the discovery channel. There's a rare case where people are their own twin. There's a split that almost happens during pregnancy, but then it goes back together, but there's two sets of DNA in the body.
There was a case where a mother had about 3 kids but their DNA did not match hers. Social services got involved and accused her of using someone else's kids for financial gain. She had another baby and tests were done right away and again, the DNA did not match up.
After testing many areas in the mother's body, they found a fragment that would have belonged to her twin, if the separation completed, and that contained the DNA that matched her kids.
I think the show was called "I am my own twin." or something to that effect.

Answer 4

No. Half of the genes of a child HAD to be gotten from the biological mother and the other half from the biological father. So, techniques like DNA fingerprinting and things will always show relationship between a child and its biological parents.

Answer 5

In addition, the mitochondrial DNA will be 100% match with the biological mother

Answer 6

I saw a show about that happening to a woman. They finally found out that she had some rare thing where she basically had 2 sets of genes! Weird, huh?

Answer 7

I'm not buying the Discovery information. Even if she was her own twin, for DNA testing purposes, it should have come out similarly enough that motherhood would not have been in question.

The answer, is NO, it is not possible.

Answer 8

i agree with hcbiochem when a baby is conceived it gets half of its dna and allelles from its mother (egg) and the other half from the father (sperm)

Answer 9

HER EGG IS FERTILIZED. THE EGG HAS HER DNA.
ONLY JESUS WAS CONCEIVED IN A DIFFERENT WAY AND MAY HAVE HAD AT LEAST HIS MOTHERS DNA.

Answer 10

Yes, but in extremely rare cases. Don't ask me why, that's the way it is ;)