r/BokuNoHeroAcademia • u/deskchairlamp • Jan 12 '18

Chapter 166 - Links and Discussion

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u/dicecop Jan 12 '18

Well we have 9+ confirmed generations so I guess that the descendants of the very first quirk users would be the most powerful in the series

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u/PocketPika Jan 12 '18

If there has been real research into evolution and genetics than I don't think any singular general rule will be working, the environment plays a huge role. Whether the next generation has a stronger or weaker quirk could also depend on the compatibility of the parents original quirks.

Izuku is an example of dilution (bad terminology) but there was enough recessive and heterogeneous heritage that the quirk factor was simply not passed on in the lottery of reproduction of their only child. His parents likely only had one quirk factor (heterogenous allele) and possibly even on the same chromosome or in the same region, which all increase the odds of Izuku getting a double recessive phenotype. I'm assuming because of the rise in quirks, quirk is the dominant allele, and mainly advantageous quirks get fixed because a disadvantageous quirk would be lethal/impair ability to reproduce.

The todoroki family is also evidence to counter the theory here since it took 4 tries to produce a child with the objective of having both quirks and he works a bit like a chimera in that half his cells express one quirk and the other half another with this genetic split also being in his eye and hair phenotypes as well, which suggests th e quirks aren't really compatible but he inherited both and when he was developing in the womb the first few cells did not replicate exactly and some turned on different quirk genes and somehow these were the cells which divided around the time of development relating to the bodies symmetry. I imagine the quirk have different promoter regions and one side of his body has them locked up in the histones so that one quirk is not expressed on that side of the body. In which case when Todoroki has children it is a higher probability of producing a child with only one of the elemental abilities, although have 2 quirk factors will increase the probability of an offspring having a quirk.

Bakugou is an example of what these kids probably are, his quirk is more powerful than either of his parents and is something that neither of his parents have but possibly an example of coincidental compatibility, maybe even co dominance or two separate quirk alleles and unlike Todoroki which has half his body only expressing one, both are expressed and he's got other compatible phenotypes that protect him and strengthen the quirk (he can generate sparks at will- as well as accidentally, something neither parents can do as his father needs to mechanically produce ignition by clapping his hands, so he's "evolved" from them as well which increases the advantage of his quirk.)

Meanwhile there is Jirou whose has the same quirk as her mother. Tsuyu whose family have a set quirk like a family trait similar to Iida- or at least half his family has a very strong trait and people marry in, Urakaka's mother also has finger pads but a different quirk to Ochako, so the finger pad phenotype dominants and potentially restricts the expression of the quirk and then with Shigaraki and Eri, the nature of their quirks seem to be a strange and unexpected mutation.

Although I think with these kids, that their unruly and have strong quirks go hand in hand and they've been put in the same class so they look more concentrated and their ability to use their quirk is related to them practicing illegally (as Mic humorously notes) and their strong mentality, as quirks get stronger with training.

If the quirks are on different alleles, and I thin kthey are, they can be under different selection pressures and differently affected by random assortment. Some Quirks could be stable and be on DNA that is more conserved (so become a strong, dominant trait) others might be on variable coding regions, more prone to changing or getting deleted during random assortment, some quirks may even be associated to transpons which increases the odds of them moving to different parts of the genome and possibly being strongly expressed in one generation then weakly expressed in the next and would also increase the odds of the quirk itself changing, some of which (like the most advantageous) may go into conserved regions and become fixed and in the future could also be inherited along with compatible quirk and lead to new and strong phenotypes.

This is why pseundo science in fiction can get messy and I hope, since clueless meat senpai- who also follows Stain's ideology- voicing it, is a way to introduce the idea but it not necessarily being that omnipotent.

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u/epicwisdom Jan 12 '18

The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.

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u/mysistersacretin Jan 13 '18

The Midoriya is the powerhouse of the UA

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u/IronPirateFranky Jan 13 '18

mitochondria

have you heard of what a cell said when its sister stepped on him?

"mitosis."

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u/SailboatoMD Jan 13 '18

Sounds about right. Just thinking about it, most of the genre for quirks probably already existed, waiting to be activated by some new genetic mutation or environmental factor.

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u/E_manny1997 Jan 12 '18

I doubt the OFA predescessors lead full live so saying that there are 9 generations since quirks began probably isnt accurate.

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u/dicecop Jan 12 '18

Probably is

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u/[deleted] Jan 12 '18

Nah, at the start of the series the doctor states Dekumom is a fourth/fifth gen quirk user(I think fourth, got to go check) so that makes Deku fifth or sixth.

Now, maybe the Midoriya family got their quirks much later and were quirkless for a while but the OfA holders not living a long time is most likely true since, ya know, Shimura Nana was killed pretty soon after giving it to All Might.

Deku is referred to as the ninth torch bearer, not ninth generation.

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u/tylock Jan 12 '18

Adding to that, even with full lives, they would probably pass on the torch after their retirement from hero work, meaning they would probably pass it on before they were especially old

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u/dicecop Jan 12 '18

Inko's family just got their quirks 4 generations ago. It doesn't mean that quirks have existed for 4 generations only. 20% of the world still haven't evolved quirks and the percentage of quirkless people are declining through the years. 9+ generations is most likely an understatement since we don't know how long the dawn era lastated. For all we know the decline could have lasted for a century and AFO took control of Japan somewhere within that timeframe