I mentioned genomic imprinting on the "Are Pokemon immortal" thread, and after looking that up, I've developed a theory that I would like to share with you all. I believe Pokemon perform genomic imprinting when they evolve.
First of all, I should probably restate what genomic imprinting is. It's a process that occurs in the DNA of animals such as mammals, and precise imprinting is required for healthy offspring. Imprinting uses modifiers called epigenetic tags to block genes from being expressed, depending on whether they are passed on from mother or father. So some genes you get from mom, according to the maternal pattern, are imprinted, and the same goes for those from dad.
For a better understanding, imagine that the nucleus is one gigantic library, and every chromosome is a different row or section lined with books that are so important they never leave. These books contain the instructions and diagrams to make everything you should ever need, how to build your arms and legs, how to make various proteins and chemicals for different processes, etc. Epigenetic tags are markers that basically say "DO NOT USE".
Imprinting settings are usually kept through adulthood. But in the reproductive tissue, changes are made. The tags are taken off and reset to match a single pattern, paternal for men, maternal for women. This process takes time to get right. In men, it takes months, in women, years. And imprinting has an effect on genetic diseases. As I mentioned in the “immortal” post, the diseases PWS and AS are controlled by the same genes in “section” 15. If one set of genes is blocked from one parent, the body normally turns to the other copy. But when that other copy is gone, you can get one of those diseases.
My theory is that all Pokemon also perform genomic imprinting, with regards to their evolution. Imprinting is part of how they control evolution. Many Pokemon radically change form when they evolve. To take an extreme example, let’s examine Magikarp and Gyarados.
Magikarp looks like the type of fish that would feed on either plants or microscopic organisms. It is incredibly weak and very low on the food chain. And its stomach and digestive track would be adapted to deal with that sort of diet. Gyarados by contrast is the very definition of top predator. It is much larger, and would have different energy requirements than Magikarp. It also has sharp teeth, meaning it is a meat eater, and probably eats in very large quantities.
Because it is a clear meat eater, Gyarados would have a very different digestive system, and would need a very different set of enzymes to break down its food. That’s also a completely different set of genes.
Or take the Squirtle line. Squirtle and Wartortle both perform Water Gun by firing it out of their mouth. Clearly that means they have an organ in their mouth or throat to perform that action. But what about Blastoise? Tell me, has anyone ever seen a Blastoise shoot water from the mouth? No. It always uses the cannons. The organ it had in the previous two stages is either gone or shut down.
Or take the Nidoran lines. The first two stages for males and females are quadrupeds. But the final forms are bipeds. The legs of Nidoqueen and Nidoking are also bigger, stronger, thicker, built very differently. And they both now have very hard armor to maintain. Again, this would require a very different set of genes than the other forms.
For simplicities sake, imagine that the genes controlling the growth, design, and maintenance of each stage is kept in a separate section of the genome, different chromosomes. When a Pokemon is born, its genome has epigenetic tags placed on all the genes pertaining to higher evolutions, because they aren’t needed yet.
When a Pokemon evolves, a mechanism is triggered to take off the tags from the genes of the next form in all cells, and to place new tags on the genes for the previous form, because those genes are no longer needed. But when a Pokemon becomes able to reproduce, something different is done in the reproductive tissue. The tags are reset, so that all but the first stage genes are open for expression. This process, like in real mammals, takes a long time.
My evidence for this theory comes from the special with Mewtwo’s return. Remember the baby Pokemon. His Rhyhorn clone had Rhyhorn babies, but the Nidoqueen clone gave birth to Nidoqueen babies. Miniature Nidoqueens. How is that possible? The answer is an imprinting error.
Clones are made by taking the nucleus of an adult body cell from one organism and fusing it with an egg cell that has had its nucleus removed. Imprinting is an issue with mammalian cloning, because the imprinting process cannot be properly finished in the mere hours given before the new cell is forced to divide and grow. So the end result is a bunch of potential errors. Mewtwo’s cloning process still took samples of body cells. And while he may have found a way to grow clones in tubes, and speed up the aging process so they were the same age as the originals, his technique was also too fast, and suffered imprinting errors. The DNA in the reproductive tissue is stuck in the same state as that of the body cell the clone was made from.
Rhyhorn’s babies came out okay because it was a Rhyhorn. But the DNA Nidoqueen had to offer her young had the genes for female Nidoran and Nidorina marked out, and only those for the Nidoqueen body pattern open for use. So when the babies started to grow and develop inside their eggs, they used the only available development plans they had, the ones titled “How To Build a Nidoqueen”.
This also explains why Mewtwo went on about the other clones being outcasts, despite never seeing evidence of that, and clones looking pretty much like any other Pokemon. They tried living with normal Pokemon at first, and Rhyhorn found another Rhyhorn, and Nidoqueen found a nice Nidoking. Rhyhorn had babies, and all was well, but then Nidoqueen’s eggs hatched...I imagine Nidoking did not take that too well. Miniature adults would have caused a panic among regular Pokemon, and at that point Mewtwo probably realized the problem they had. Mewtwo cloned 25 Pokemon in the first movie, and out of those, only 5, 20% were in their first evolutionary stage, meaning they could lay normal eggs. All the others were second stage or higher, and so their offspring would already be evolved.
So, what do you all think?
First of all, I should probably restate what genomic imprinting is. It's a process that occurs in the DNA of animals such as mammals, and precise imprinting is required for healthy offspring. Imprinting uses modifiers called epigenetic tags to block genes from being expressed, depending on whether they are passed on from mother or father. So some genes you get from mom, according to the maternal pattern, are imprinted, and the same goes for those from dad.
For a better understanding, imagine that the nucleus is one gigantic library, and every chromosome is a different row or section lined with books that are so important they never leave. These books contain the instructions and diagrams to make everything you should ever need, how to build your arms and legs, how to make various proteins and chemicals for different processes, etc. Epigenetic tags are markers that basically say "DO NOT USE".
Imprinting settings are usually kept through adulthood. But in the reproductive tissue, changes are made. The tags are taken off and reset to match a single pattern, paternal for men, maternal for women. This process takes time to get right. In men, it takes months, in women, years. And imprinting has an effect on genetic diseases. As I mentioned in the “immortal” post, the diseases PWS and AS are controlled by the same genes in “section” 15. If one set of genes is blocked from one parent, the body normally turns to the other copy. But when that other copy is gone, you can get one of those diseases.
My theory is that all Pokemon also perform genomic imprinting, with regards to their evolution. Imprinting is part of how they control evolution. Many Pokemon radically change form when they evolve. To take an extreme example, let’s examine Magikarp and Gyarados.
Magikarp looks like the type of fish that would feed on either plants or microscopic organisms. It is incredibly weak and very low on the food chain. And its stomach and digestive track would be adapted to deal with that sort of diet. Gyarados by contrast is the very definition of top predator. It is much larger, and would have different energy requirements than Magikarp. It also has sharp teeth, meaning it is a meat eater, and probably eats in very large quantities.
Because it is a clear meat eater, Gyarados would have a very different digestive system, and would need a very different set of enzymes to break down its food. That’s also a completely different set of genes.
Or take the Squirtle line. Squirtle and Wartortle both perform Water Gun by firing it out of their mouth. Clearly that means they have an organ in their mouth or throat to perform that action. But what about Blastoise? Tell me, has anyone ever seen a Blastoise shoot water from the mouth? No. It always uses the cannons. The organ it had in the previous two stages is either gone or shut down.
Or take the Nidoran lines. The first two stages for males and females are quadrupeds. But the final forms are bipeds. The legs of Nidoqueen and Nidoking are also bigger, stronger, thicker, built very differently. And they both now have very hard armor to maintain. Again, this would require a very different set of genes than the other forms.
For simplicities sake, imagine that the genes controlling the growth, design, and maintenance of each stage is kept in a separate section of the genome, different chromosomes. When a Pokemon is born, its genome has epigenetic tags placed on all the genes pertaining to higher evolutions, because they aren’t needed yet.
When a Pokemon evolves, a mechanism is triggered to take off the tags from the genes of the next form in all cells, and to place new tags on the genes for the previous form, because those genes are no longer needed. But when a Pokemon becomes able to reproduce, something different is done in the reproductive tissue. The tags are reset, so that all but the first stage genes are open for expression. This process, like in real mammals, takes a long time.
My evidence for this theory comes from the special with Mewtwo’s return. Remember the baby Pokemon. His Rhyhorn clone had Rhyhorn babies, but the Nidoqueen clone gave birth to Nidoqueen babies. Miniature Nidoqueens. How is that possible? The answer is an imprinting error.
Clones are made by taking the nucleus of an adult body cell from one organism and fusing it with an egg cell that has had its nucleus removed. Imprinting is an issue with mammalian cloning, because the imprinting process cannot be properly finished in the mere hours given before the new cell is forced to divide and grow. So the end result is a bunch of potential errors. Mewtwo’s cloning process still took samples of body cells. And while he may have found a way to grow clones in tubes, and speed up the aging process so they were the same age as the originals, his technique was also too fast, and suffered imprinting errors. The DNA in the reproductive tissue is stuck in the same state as that of the body cell the clone was made from.
Rhyhorn’s babies came out okay because it was a Rhyhorn. But the DNA Nidoqueen had to offer her young had the genes for female Nidoran and Nidorina marked out, and only those for the Nidoqueen body pattern open for use. So when the babies started to grow and develop inside their eggs, they used the only available development plans they had, the ones titled “How To Build a Nidoqueen”.
This also explains why Mewtwo went on about the other clones being outcasts, despite never seeing evidence of that, and clones looking pretty much like any other Pokemon. They tried living with normal Pokemon at first, and Rhyhorn found another Rhyhorn, and Nidoqueen found a nice Nidoking. Rhyhorn had babies, and all was well, but then Nidoqueen’s eggs hatched...I imagine Nidoking did not take that too well. Miniature adults would have caused a panic among regular Pokemon, and at that point Mewtwo probably realized the problem they had. Mewtwo cloned 25 Pokemon in the first movie, and out of those, only 5, 20% were in their first evolutionary stage, meaning they could lay normal eggs. All the others were second stage or higher, and so their offspring would already be evolved.
So, what do you all think?