What happens to ingested genes?

Q: What happens to genes we eat?
Franklin N., Huntsville, TX

A:

"Mixing genetic material from species that cannot breed naturally, takes us into areas that should be left to God. We should not be meddling with the building blocks of life in this way." -Prince Charles, quoted in the BBC News, Online Network, 26 February 1999.

We fear what we don't know.

Consider what we do know:

· A gene is a particular segment of the DNA molecular chain. It contains the code that tells other parts of the cell what proteins to assemble.

· There is only one genetic code (except for one minor variation) and all cells in all living things know it.

· Genes do not care what cells they inhabit; cells do not care what genes they contain. All genes in all cells work exactly the same.

Could, then, a gene I digest end up changing my genes?

Nope, says Mike Cherry of Stanford Genome. You can eat any DNA you want and you will absorb into the bloodstream only digested matter: sugar, phosphates, and combinations of sugar and phosphates (nucleotides), says Cherry. No genes.