Why does immunity to pathogens that our parents are already immune to have to still be aquired later on in life through infections and shots and not just be inherited through genetics?
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Acquired immunity (via shots/infection) is not genetic in nature. It’s training your immune system like your brain learns to read or walk.
Immunity can be conveyed via genetics if there’s a mutation that happens to make you immune to a disease. We’re exploring using gene therapy to make people immune to certain diseases.
Another thing is that your genome isn’t a fixed/universal thing. Every cell in your body has a copy of your genome and each of them can mutate independently over the course of your life due to things like radiation or viruses. Egg/sperm cells are in an even more special situation because they come from cells that are normally even more isolated from the rest of your body and don’t divide the same way. There’s an ongoing debate around the morality of using gene therapy when it comes to egg/sperm cells because there can be unintended consequences from introducing genetic engineering into the wider human gene pool.
Should also be noted that there are other ways you can gain immunity from your parents. Recent studies have indicated that you gain a lot of immunity from your mother from a combination of birth (messy, lots of blood around) and breast milk (some antibodies seem to be transferred this way).
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