In a message dated 7/23/2006 7:17:43 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Do the cells *really* have human DNA? The wikipedia mentions their extraordinary reproductive properties - don't these properties necessitate some sort of change in the DNA? After all, if you took cells from my Mom's cervix, they wouldn't keep propagating in a laboratory. This possibility that they have non-human-DNA is perhaps particularly instructive if further proof is assembled for the theory that a virus is at the root of many cancers. HeLa cells came from a tumor of Helen Lane. They are unquestionably human cells. They have a mutation that allows them to continue to divide and propagate (that is what cancer cells do after all just not as successfully as these cells. They do not represent a new species of anything. They are clump of human cells that is it. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
