If you’re at the hospital and you get pumped full of blood, how come it doesn’t change your genetics? Is blood unrelated to that sort of thing and I’m just stupid?
In: Biology
It’s not stupid at all. After all, you’re taking a piece of someone else and putting it into you. As others have said, there’s no DNA in red blood cells, so there’s no chance of that at all in this case.
But, your question gets deeper – can ANY kind of transplant/transfusion change your genetics? And this answer is no*.
*That is, it won’t change your overall genetics, because every cell in your body has your blueprint, and those won’t change if another part of you is replaced. But if you had a lung transplant? The genes of your lungs WOULD be different than the genes elsewhere in your body! Same for your kidneys, heart, and other organ transplants. If you get Carol’s lungs, then they’ll live and reproduce lung tissue and every new cell that’s made to replace old and damaged lung cells will have Carol’s genes in them.
In fact, this is a big deal in transplant medicine. Some people can’t donate organs because of it, and if there’s a risk for certain genetic diseases they’re tested for and screened out in order to minimize risk to the person getting the transplant. Crazy, huh?
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