Question #f60e5
1 Answer
Chimerism is a merging of different gametes during fertilization
Explanation:
Explaining blood types:
To start with, O negative blood is blood that lacks ANY antibodies, while O positive blood has a Rh antibody. Say an A-positive person donates blood to an A-negative person: Since the donor's blood has the Rh antigen, the A-negative person will not recognize it and the recipient will reject the blood.
Chimerism
In your case, your daughter has the Rh antibody from your father's blood. The real mystery is how she has A antibodies. To this, understand chimerism, and what the "chimera" is. The chimera is a beast in Greek mythology that is made of multiple animals
Since the chimera is not one single animal but a mix, similarily your gametes (sex cells) have different genetic material. There are a lot of ways chimerism can occur during fertilization, so I cannot answer this without more information about your case. However, I suspect a bone marrow transplant may be responsible for the discrepancy in your case. There is a lot of variety among chimerism cases. For example:
British Medical Journal Case
A study of a woman published in the British Medical Journal (1953) found that she had multiple blood types in her blood. Her zygote had merged with the zygote of her fraternal twin in the womb, and as a result, she had 2 blood types. While this is not what happened in your case, it provides an example of how chimerism can occur. Mutations and other conditions can also cause the difference in blood types you experience.
Final Thoughts
Ask your doctor to explain chimerism. Physicians are usually willing to explain these things carefully and patiently. Without more information and your medical history (something you may not want to fully disclose to the internet), I can't determine what caused the chimerism specifically in your case. However, if you are still confused after asking your doctor about how chimeras work, feel free to comment below.
