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Evert van Brussel

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A question about accumulated mistakes in your DNA and sperm-cells.

Aubrey de Grey says that there have been mistakes accumulating in your DNA since before you were born. Once those mistakes cross a certain line things start to go wrong. Signs of old age, but eventually cancer and stuff like that.

What I don't understand is, are those same accumulated mistakes also reflected in your sperm cells?
I can't imagine that this can be true. Otherwise signs of aging would be passed through to the next generation, wouldn't it? If you know what I mean...
Do you still follow me?

However, the other option, that your sperm cells do not reflect the mistakes accumulated in your DNA, seems equally unlikely.

So how does this work?

Related Talks:
Topics: DNA aging
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  • Evert van Brussel

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    Feb 23 2012: Okay so that means that every baby has flawed DNA from the father (because newly made sperm cells contain accumulated mistakes) and not-so-flawed DNA from the mother (because that egg was already created when the child was born), so the newly born baby should still have flawed DNA right?
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    Branislav Ivkovic 10+

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    TED Translator
    Feb 23 2012: I think I understand your question, and I think that the answer is both yes and no.
    Yes it is accumulated in your sperm cells, and no it's not passed to the next generation, because every next generation is actually a mix of man's and woman's DNA. So... Sorry if this doesn't answer your question...

  • Evert van Brussel

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    Feb 4 2012: Nobody?
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