In "Chromosome 9: Disease," Ridley begins the tenth chapter of Genome with a discussion of the ABO blood groups, including which blood group could donate to the other blood groups. He goes on to explain why a blood group only donates to certain other blood groups: When a blood group (O blood group) "lack[s] just one letter fairly early in the message, the whole subsequent message says something completely different. A different protein is made with different properties. The chemical reaction is not catalysed (139). Also, people with a certain blood type can be more susceptible to one disease, but more resistant to another disease. For example, the A gene gives better cholera resistance but the B gene gives better resistance to malaria. Ridley ends the chapter by reminding the readers that "nobody can say that the blood group A is 'normal' adn O, B and AB are 'abnormal' (141) because "variation is an inherent and integral part of the human - or indeed any - genome" (141).
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