what happens with a donor organ’s DNA after a successful transplant?

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My assumption is that over time the organ regenerates new cells with the host’s DNA. Or do the two stay distinct for life, or do they merge into a mix of the two? If they stay separate, is there a definite boundary, and does the host’s future offspring bear the DNA of three bloodlines instead of two?

In: Biology

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Anonymous 0 Comments

An organ will regenerate by splitting some of its existing cells into two “new” cells in a process called mitosis. When a cell is preparing for mitosis, it first creates a second replicate copy of its DNA. Its more complex than this but as mitosis progresses, the two replicate copies of DNA get moved to opposite ends of the cell. The cell divides in the middle and now you have two cells, each with its own copy of DNA.

So to answer your question, since the cells of the donor organ will under go mitosis and split, the donor’s DNA will always persist in the organs cells and remain separate to that of the recipient.

I’m not sure what you mean by boundary, but donor DNA would only be found in cells that originated from the donor organ. The recipients offspring would only get DNA from the recipient, as sperm/egg DNA is not derived from the organ donors dna

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