[Fwd: [ArchTheoMeth] genes and languages--Kurds and Georgians]

[ek]

I do recall that 'probably never' was the answer from several years ago,
although more recently (perhaps within the past 5 or 6 years) I read that
this was being questioned, and that perhaps paternal mitochondria do get in
more often than previously supposed.

Unfortunately, I do not recall the specifics of where i read this. With
luck, someone else here has read the same or something similar and can
provide a proper reference.

Eva

[ moderator snip ]

> I just looked it up in a human biology textbook. In normal
> fertilization, the sperm doesn't penetrate the egg cell as such ---
> the membranes of the sperm head and the oocyte merge to let the sperm
> nucleus inside, but the tail and its mitochondria are left outside.

> I doubt that anything viable results if those parts of the sperm do
> enter the oocyte, so the answer to the question is probably 'never.'

> Lars Mathiesen (U of Copenhagen CS Dep) <thorinn at diku.dk> (Humour NOT marked)