DNA in Transfusions and Transplants

Most recent answer: 02/18/2011

Q:
If a persongets blood transfusion, or gets an organ transplant, will he have TWO DNA fingerprints?!! or does his bbody modify the DNA of the donated oegan? This question has been puzzling me for some time.
- V.S.Sury (age 66)
Mysore,Karnataka, India
A:
The DNA of the new cells is indeed that of the donor, not the recipient. In the case of organ transplants, the donor DNA is of course not spread all around but stays in the new organ. For blood transfusions the donor DNA does circulate. In some transfusions the white cells are removed. The remaining blood should be largely DNA-free, since red cells don't have nuclei. Still, there will certainly be some donor DNA in it. The recipient doesn't modify the sequence of the new DNA, although some epigenetic changes can be made. Those would not affect the standard sequence-based fingerprint. So yes, you can find people with a mix of two or more DNA fingerprints.

Mike W.

(published on 02/18/2011)