[NYer]

In Greek mythology, the Chimera was an awesome fire-breathing monster with the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tail of a serpent. The Chimera was killed by the hero Bellerophon mounted, in most versions of the tale, on Pegasus, the winged horse.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

Here I was thinking they had switched her children in the maternity ward. This is a new one.

[stanz]

This is really freaky.

[anobjectivist]

Wow that is amazing.

[N. Theknow]

Is the woman blonde?

[Tac12]

Question for the Christians (or Muslims or whatever)

how many souls will go to heaven or hell? One or two or ...?

[MineralMan]

Most amazing, indeed. I had no idea that such natural chimeras existed as humans. I will have to check this out!

[eastsider]

And the two shall be as one ...

[wizardoz]

Hmmm..... is this proven, or just a theory? I mean, did they actually take DNA samples from different parts of this woman and find two different sets of DNA? Cause otherwise, the babies-switched-at-the-hospital suggestion seems far more plausible.

[Billthedrill]

It happens in other animals - we had a Harlequin Great Dane with one blue eye and one brown one - that was the explanation the vet gave us. According to him they all are.

Pinging our resident vet...

[Plutarch]

Ouch, that had to hurt to deliver!

[Always Right]

Sons I gave birth to are 'unrelated' to me

Actually they would be related genetically, just more like a nefew instead of a son. Maybe this lady needs to be upset with her husband for having sex with her sister.

[BossLady]

Chimera Alert! Unusual story here.....

[Age of Reason]

I WONDER HOW MANY CONVICTED CRIMINALS HAVE BEEN SET FREE BECAUSE THEIR DNA DIDN'T MATCH!

Scientist have no idea how often Chimeras occur.

Perhaps being a Chimera--perhaps having mixed-up genes--makes someone more inclined to criminal behavior, and so a very high percentage of criminals might be Chimeras.

In such case, it's no wonder their DNA doesn't match the crime scene!

[hispanarepublicana]

Oh, great........another "OJ Simpson" defense. "If the twin's in me, you must set free."

[DoctorMichael]

Chimera manufacture is a common technique used in making 'Knockout' mice. I had never heard of it's occurance in humans, but it just stands to reason that it's possible and has occured.

Interesting Bump.

[nothingnew]

It seems to me maybe the doctors screwed up or she screwed around.

FMCDH

[Ichneumon]

There's also a variation on this, called a "mosaic", in which one of the cells in the developing embryo underwent a mutation (such as a copy error, etc.), resulting in a person who has some tissues/organs (i.e., those which developed from the original mutated cell) having a genetic variation compared to the other parts of the same body.

This can lead to odd medical disorders, whereby some tissues in the body are susceptible to a particular problem while others aren't. It can also make DNA screening for genetic illnesses difficult because the cells (or blood) sampled for genetic screening may be the "healthy" ones.

There is speculation that some cases of Alzheimer's or autism may be a result of this.

[Lloyd227]

"after tests showed that two of her three grown-up sons were biologically unrelated to her.

VS.

""Jane is a chimera, a mixture of two individuals - non-identical twin sisters - whose cells intermingled in the womb and grew into a single body

If Jane is a mixture of herself and her sister, than any children born by her are certainly "biologically related". They may well display very unusual DNA traits which would not match the normal parent/child patterns, but this is so contradictory that I can't take anything else in the story serious.

Who trains these reporters anyway, Democrats?

[dawn53]

Wasn't this an X-Files episode???? (just kidding)

[stuartcr]

Apparently this doesn't apply to this woman, or they would have mentioned it.