A 34-year-old man in Washington reportedly failed a paternity test because of the extra genes he absorbed while in the womb, which belonged to his twin who was never even born.
Because of this, the DNA in his sperm didn’t match that of his saliva, meaning his unborn twin was technically the father of his child, because the DNA in his sperm was his. Doctors diagnosed him with Chimerism. Doctors made the discovery because of a genetic ancestry test, which showed that the man was a human chimera.
photo: Fotolia
What is Chimerism?
Chimerism happens as a result of the fusing together of two fertilized eggs during the first few hours of life in the womb. Though we rarely hear of this disorder, scientists claim it’s fairly common.
1 in 8 single pregnancies start out as multiple ones, meaning that there are quite a number of human beings who were supposed to be born with twins or as part of triplets.
Back in 2002, a similar case happened to a woman in Boston. When Karen Keegan was in need of a kidney transplant, they found out that none of her kids were fitting donors, as their DNA belonged to their mother’s dead twin.
Previous studies claim that a minor form of chimerism can happen to pregnant women had fetal cells in their tissue, due to absorption from the uterus to the blood and various organs. These cells were believed to be able to stay in their bodies long after they had given birth.
sources: Independent, Medicinet, Nature.com, Scientific American
READ: Men’s weight affects genes passed on by sperm, shows study
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