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

They stay distinct. Transplant recipients will take immunosupressants for the rest of their life (or more likely to come first; the duration of the graft’s survival) so the recipient’s body doesn’t reject the graft.

If you’re interested in learning a bit more, “when death becomes life” is an interesting, and easy to read, book by a transplant surgeon.

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