Fic help.

[fems]

But as I understand the ATA gene, a person doesn't have to have two copies. Do they?

As I said before, it has never been clarified whether it's recessive or dominant and how it is passed on.

[SF_and_Coffee]

can't disagree, however we're also dealing with a show that made a planet with a permanent light and dark side, which just isn't possible as they portrayed it....my interpretation? It's an alien planet. If the show writers can take liberties, so can fanfic authors.

SHe can even hang a lantern on it, they remark about how tides don't work this way, someone else replies 'it's an alien planet, they tend to operate by their own rules'

It's possible to have a tidally-locked planet with a permanently light side and a permanently dark side. If you're talking about the planet in The Broca Divide, the darkness was in all likelihood the edge of the shadowed side while the Land of Light was the edge of the lighted side, with both actually existing in the narrow habitable ribbon around the terminator. Complicated? Sure, Impossible? No.

But it isn't possible to have tides like you've described, and I'm pretty sure happening upon something like that would be enough to pull a lot of readers right out of the story.

[siles]

As I said before, it has never been clarified whether it's recessive or dominant and how it is passed on.

Even if it's dominant the penetrance might be less than 100%

[Whytewytch]

If you need two copies of the ATA gene in order for the gene to function then, yeah, having only one copy of it would mean you couldn't make use of it but would give you the potential to have a child with two copies if you mated with someone else who had one or two copies. But as I understand the ATA gene, a person doesn't have to have two copies. Do they?

Just a guess--could it be that the naturals, like Sheppard & Carson, were people whose mother and father both had the gene, and those who needed Carson's "gene therapy" had the gene from only one parent?

[SF_and_Coffee]

As I said before, it has never been clarified whether it's recessive or dominant and how it is passed on.

I'm not asking about recessive or dominant. I'm asking about whether it was ever stipulated that a person had to have two copies of the gene. As for how it's passed on, obviously it would be passed on the same way all other genes are passed along -- by parental sex.

[SF_and_Coffee]

Just a guess--could it be that the naturals, like Sheppard & Carson, were people whose mother and father both had the gene, and those who needed Carson's "gene therapy" had the gene from only one parent?

That would make sense.

[Whytewytch]

As I said before, it has never been clarified whether it's recessive or dominant and how it is passed on.

That gives her plenty of leeway, then.

[Whytewytch]

I'm not asking about recessive or dominant. I'm asking about whether it was ever stipulated that a person had to have two copies of the gene. As for how it's passed on, obviously it would be passed on the same way all other genes are passed along -- by parental sex.

My parents never had sex--the stork brought me. It's just a coincidence that I look a bit like each of them.

[fems]

I'm not asking about recessive or dominant. I'm asking about whether it was ever stipulated that a person had to have two copies of the gene. As for how it's passed on, obviously it would be passed on the same way all other genes are passed along -- by parental sex.

I was talking about whether it works the same way as, say, hair or eye color or if it's different like being x-linked dominant or recessive.

[Nikki Alexander]

I'm mainly curious really because John is a natural carrier but I always wondered whether his brother ever possessed the gene or not. But as there isn't all that much information about the ATA gene I'll probably make some slight changes and there'll probably be one or two things made up. But it's fanfiction so I guess we can stretch the truth a bit and make it fit.

[SF_and_Coffee]

What exactly do you mean by a "a strong natural strain" of the gene? Strains apply to bacteria and viruses, but genes don't really come in strains.

[Nikki Alexander]

^ I've edited that bit out, but I just meant that he's a natural carrier, but I used the wrong words to explain what I meant.

[Sealurk]

You can however have mutated forms of genes. The double-muscle mutation in humans is an example - mutations in one or both copies of the gene responsible for myostatin produces people with muscular hypertrophy.

[Skydiver]

It's possible to have a tidally-locked planet with a permanently light side and a permanently dark side. If you're talking about the planet in The Broca Divide, the darkness was in all likelihood the edge of the shadowed side while the Land of Light was the edge of the lighted side, with both actually existing in the narrow habitable ribbon around the terminator. Complicated? Sure, Impossible? No.

But it isn't possible to have tides like you've described, and I'm pretty sure happening upon something like that would be enough to pull a lot of readers right out of the story.

It depends more on your point of view. They're alien planets. We've never been able to really steady planets in a double sun system or other things. We, as in a general we, are applying our knowledge of earth to planets that may not follow the same rules. Beyond Mars we have yet to even set 'foot' on an alien planet

As to what pulls people out of stories....it varies from person to person. I'm bugged more by bad spelling, bad grammar, medical malpractice and stories that are so bogged down with intricate detail that they're a trial to read. (why I never read Doc's 'For God and Country'......too tedious, after a few pages I got tired of trying to wade through it and gave up.)

Obviously you feel very strongly about your opinions, so be it. I still feel that it's an alien planet and we can't presume that it'll act like earth, because it's not.

At the end of the day, it's Sara's story and her choice what she does with it. It'll be fun to see what she comes up with.

[SF_and_Coffee]

Physics really isn't a POV thing, Sky. The effects of tidal locking can be modeled mathematically, and have been. I have links if you want them.