Do women "save" the DNA of their male partners?

[Saiged]

A friend of mine told me that the more male sexual male partners you have, the more DNA content you get to “remember”, so your kids might end up getting the traits not only of your husband, but also from the previous 2-3 or whichever guys. Do you think this is real?

 

[Lev Butlerov]

I've read the study by Fred Hutchison Cancer Center. There they determined that michrochimerism is possible in women who have multiple sexual partners, and their DNA information is for real retained in the body of the woman. Sounds pretty feasible to me, but I am not totally convinced by this.

 

[Saiged]

Wow, that is incredible! Sounds like sci-fi! Do you know how can this affect the future kids and general health?

 

[Lev Butlerov]

Sounds incredible, but it is true. I have done some research, and in reality there have been quite some studies carried out. Mostly this effect is found in the transfer of DNA material from child to mother, but sexual intercourse does leave a trace as well - not as potent, but still there is a trace. I think that it has yet to be determined in more detail as to what consequences this may have.

 

[stevesmi]

what if the guy used a condom?

 

[Lev Butlerov]

what if the guy used a condom?

Lets face it - by far not everyone uses them, for one reason or another. Ideally it should be used in most of the cases, but there are so many more things that should happen in an ideal world.

 

[SteveMobsterG]

From memory it's not girls who have a single partner and stay with them for some time somehow saving DNA for years from a previous partner. If I remember properly it's multiple partners in a short time frame.

We know it can happen outside of the human race and it's to do with health. An animal producing the healthiest sperm or means of fertilizing an egg should, therefore, win the race to get to the egg. Selectively being able to 'keep' the most dominant, strongest and healthiest DNA is useful.

In humans it's kinda obvious and part of why we groom ourselves to give the illusion of health etc when dating. In more primitive times the healthier hunter could provide and protect ergo was attractive.