08-09-2014, 07:05 PM
(08-09-2014, 04:32 AM)iancampbell Wrote: Interesting. Another way of the children getting their own colony of a symbiont like this is the way that babies get their initial population of intestinal flora. IIRC, the way this usually happens is that the bugs get in on the baby's way down the birth canal. (Yet another reason for avoiding C-sections whenever possible.) Which means that it doesn't have to get into germline cells.
Incidentally, such a symbiote (if transmitted via germ cells) would be transmitted exclusively via the mother. Sperm cells don't have the room - they don't even have the room for mitochondria and other organelles, which means that all the mitochondria are inherited from the mother.
I'm afraid that you misunderstood me. You see an HIV virus is a member of retrovirii group. It is encapsulated RNA which is upon entry into a cell transcribed into DNA and then integrated into DNA of the host cell.
There it remains dormant until needed transcription factors appear.
Because of that the immunity would be passed by both males and females.
HIV virus DNA is 9.2kilobases long that is about 0.00028440443% of human DNA.