If I alter my genetic code with that of another human's will I see a change in my bones?

Question

If I change my genetic code to be more like that of say a white man or a black man, since I am a grown adult, would there be any change in my skeletal structure or just in my skin colour? Would there be any other possible change, such as if I inserted genetics from an asian man, would there be soft tissue change in the shape of my eyelids?

This is not meant as a racist question, simply as a genetics question.

Answer 1

If you changed out all your genes, you would begin to express only those that are expressed in an adult, which is a tiny minority of the genes. Most of your genes are indistinguishable from everybody else's on the phenotypic level anyway. Over time you might take on new characteristics, but only those changes that is easy for existing tissues to make.

Answer 2

What is usually referred to when speaking of the genetic code is how codons are translated into amino acids. There is a (nearly) universal set of codons used by all life on earth (plants, animals, fungi, bacterial etc.) to convert the information in mRNA into a protein.

It sounds like you are asking about adding new genes (not genetics which is the study of genes) into your genome (the total of all your genes). This is called gene therapy. You will most likely die if anything. An adult body has stopped growing and is no longer going through developmental stages. You are stuck with what you have. The problem with gene therapy is that no one can control the delivery of the DNA. You can't control where your new gene will insert itself. It may integrate into another gene, a regulatory region or a non-essential part of a chromosome. If other genes are disrupted or mis-regulated, the cell can become malignant. It is a unlikely event but that is where evolution by natural selection takes over. All it takes is for a few cells to become mis-programed and grow out of control to form a tumor.

Answer 3

Probably not. First of all, this hypothetical question is purely of science fiction as of today in that to alter the entire genetic code of an adult would require the change to occur in every cell of the body. But, to speculate in interest of answering the question, in adults, there are very few cells undergoing mitosis (adult stem cells). So, tissue production or change would be difficult. Also, as an adult, your cells are all highly specific to their function. That is, they only utilize certain parts of the genetic code which is usually highly conserved evolutionarily speaking, so there would not be much change in function.

Answer 4

In reply to both you and the answerer above, I believe that it's all dependent on the genes that you DO change. It wouldn't necessarily be required to replace all of your genes to achieve changes in certain aspects of your body. for example, people with genetic disorders don't have to change all of their genes (unless most of their genes are messed up), they could simply receive gene therapy for the genes that are messed up.

It's all dependent on the genes you would be changing.