Why does IVF look like its parents?
IVF refers to the baby that is conceived and developed by implanting the fertilized egg into the mother's uterus after IVF through assisted pregnancy technology. Although IVF is formed by the combination of the germ cells of both parents, sometimes they do not look exactly like their parents. This article will explain the reasons why IVF looks like its parents from the aspects of heredity, environment, gene expression and mutation.
Genetic factor
The appearance of IVF babies unlike their parents may be due to genetic factors. First of all, parents' gene combinations are diverse, and each gene comes from the genetic material of the father and mother, so children will recombine genes, leading to the randomness of gene sampling. Secondly, the dominant and recessive characteristics of genes will also affect appearance. Parents may carry some hidden genes. When these genes are expressed in IVF, the child's appearance may be different from that of parents. In addition, factors such as gene interaction and gene mutation can also lead to incongruity between the appearance of IVF and its parents.
It is worth mentioning that IVF is usually one of the results of successful pregnancy of multiple births. When one or more fertilized eggs are implanted into the mother at the same time, each fertilized egg may develop into an independent embryo, and the genes between these embryos may be different from each other, so the genetic differences between multiple fetuses will also cause their appearance to be different from that of their parents.
environmental factor
Environmental factors are also one of the reasons why IVF does not look like its parents. Although IVF babies are fertilized in vitro and cultured in the laboratory, their development environment after implantation in the mother is similar to that of normal pregnant babies. This development environment includes maternal uterine environment, maternal health, maternal diet and lifestyle and other factors. These environmental factors may have a certain impact on the development and appearance of IVF.
In addition, the appearance difference of test tube babies may also be affected by changes in maternal hormone levels. Hormones play an important role in the development process and appearance formation of infants. If the maternal hormone level is unstable after IVF, it may have a certain impact on the appearance of infants.
gene expression
The reason why IVF looks different from its parents may also be related to gene expression. Gene expression refers to the level of regulation and expression in the process of transcription and translation of information in genes into proteins. The gene expression of each individual is regulated by other genes and environmental factors. The gene expression regulation of IVF may be different from that of naturally pregnant infants, so their appearance may be different from that of their parents.
It is worth mentioning that recent studies have also found that environmental factors (such as chemicals, radiation, etc.) that mothers are exposed to during pregnancy may have a certain impact on the appearance of test tube babies through the regulation of fetal gene expression.
Gene mutation
Gene mutations are another reason why IVF babies don't look like their parents. Gene mutation refers to the change in the DNA sequence of a gene. These changes may be the product of mutation, may occur naturally, or may be caused by external factors. Once the gene mutation occurs, it will affect the function and expression of the gene, thus causing the appearance of the IVF to be different from that of the parents.
In some cases, gene mutations may be the cause of genetic or congenital diseases. IVF babies may inherit these mutant genes from their parents, resulting in their illness or abnormal appearance.
summary
Whether it is genetic factors, environmental factors, gene expression or gene mutation, the phenomenon that IVF does not look like parents can be explained scientifically. IVF is different from naturally pregnant infants. Their fertilization and development process occurs in the laboratory and is affected by many factors. Therefore, it is common and normal for IVF babies to differ from their parents in appearance.
