Ahmed Shaami
Do children inherit intelligence from their mother or the father? This is a question that parents have been squabbling over since the beginning of humanity. Previously a post went viral that new research has established that intelligence is inherited from the mother because the intelligence genes are located on the X chromosomes. The mother has two of these chromosomes but they are not identical as science has now revealed. To the children, the mothers pass only one X and they receive the second X or Y chromosomes from their father.
But if we talk about intelligence, it is very complicated and just not ends by inheriting chromosomes from your mother. Intelligence cannot be really defined nor can it be separated from culture. Researchers have discovered that there are conditioned genes that only activate when inherited from the mother and that are extremely important for the development of the embryo. Conditioned genes are the gene sequences that are registered as being of material origin. According to scientists, the genes crucial for the development of the embryo would have a major impact on brain function in the lives of animals as well as individuals.
Moreover, it was found that the embryos survived when normal embryonic cells were maintained. They created several genetically modified laboratory mice when they were manipulated with the rest but did not develop in the same manner. The study revealed that mice that had an additional dose of paternal genes had brains of smaller size but larger bodies.
According to a 1996 paper, the mouse embryos that were a mix of cells some carried double paternal genomes while some carried double maternal genomes. It was stated that developed mouse brans carried far more of one than the other whereas other parts of the brain showed a reversed pattern. In 2013, one of the senior authors on that paper Barry E. Keverne wrote that the findings may have been the result of a failure of double paternal cells that thrive and survive when they reach the developing cortex. It was further continued by the editorial staff that the researchers have not found the paternal genes in the cerebral cortex. This is where humans develop advanced cognitive functions such as intelligence, thought, language, and painting.
It is considered that the scientists are still referring to those mice. What they want to explain is that the double paternal cells in the mice in the study carried out in 1996, tended to be excluded from these brain areas. But no one had the idea that the researchers would not have found the paternal genes in the cerebral cortex. It gives the impression that somehow the cerebral cortex excises with surgical precision these parts of the cellular genome that are inherited paternally.
Papers that were cited 20 or 30 years ago deal with the discovery that an embryo requires both a paternal and a maternal genome for appropriate development. The development tends to fail in the absence of complementary genomes. With the genetics of intelligence, the tautological cross-referencing almost gets tangled and does not make sense. What actually makes sense is that these posts make use of an image of a little girl in a giant glass that indicates to the audience that
So, science and research are yet to establish a fact where you got the smartness that you have. Nonetheless, if you are smart, be proud of yourself.
