On Thu, 8 Mar 2001 23:04:12 -0000 Tavia tavia@btinternet.com writes:

Neil re cloned Auronar:

...

I've even hinted that clone might be haploid, with only half the full set of chromosomes, but I'm not sure if that's biologically feasible. Though apparently it works for frogs.

I don't see why not. Though my guesstimate would be that haploids would naturally be smaller (dunno why), this could no doubt be got round by suitable growth hormone &c implants. Or indeed by a certain amount of engineering at the DNA level such that appropriate genes were overexpressed.

The problem with this (as it relates to humans) is that most cases of a single chromosome lead to fatal or severely damaging defects and deformities. It's not insurmountable. XXY, XXX, and XYY are fairly mild in their associated manifestations, I understand, although this is credited to the odd relation between X and Y chromosomes. To put my no doubt extremely imperfect understanding as simply as possible, the genes activate in a sort of 'if a, then not b' sort of way. That is, one gene may be effectively 'switched off' because of another one present, rather than simply dominant/recessive (I think single X's are survivable but severe. Y's sans X are invariably fatal). This makes sense given that the Y chromosome is shorter than the X, so the normal gene balance can't take place. This would seem to make it possible to do other ways in humans.

But what about other haploid types? Several types of plants first reproduce asexually through spores or such to create a haploid type that can have a radically different form, which then creates the pollen or whatever for sexual reproduction.

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