Dna

[Butterbun]

Can your DNA be altered in any way if you have had a blood transfusion?
Sqad or anybody in the know.

[penelope2]

In a word, NO.

[slaney]

No - red cells do not contain any nuclei and therefore have no DNA.

The DNA in white cells may linger in the recipient's body for a little longer, but it would not alter his or her own DNA make up.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/donor-blood-transfustion/

[Peter Pedant]

In a short word no

but is this for a novella ?
in which case - If the blood is infected with a virus then the lucky recipient will get the virus and if it is like Herpes ( DNA ) or a retro virus then it would modify the DNA

AND... OR

if the recipient were VERY white cell deficient and so is very immunosuppressed then the donor white cells may be able to cause trouble by doing a partial transplant (graft-against-host reaction)

( I got down to a count of 20 ( normal 1000 ) and I dont think I ever got irradiated blood .... )

So yeah if you are Charles Dickens looking for a rather tortured plot, possibly

and no otherwise....

Bit of a technical explanation - so I expect the usual flood of
meh ? yeah ? yeah what? and finally yeah what yeah !

[Peter Pedant]

slaney I am fear you have forgotten transfusion in severely immuno compromised patients when the live cells are killed off by irrradiation of donor blood to prevent graft against host reaction ( when clearly some donated cells are gonna have different DNA )

I mean these patients look so sick they cant do anything but that wasnt the question

Ther was a murder prog that turned on the BMT the murderer had between the two murders so the DNA in the blood smears wouldnt match

[Butterbun]

Thanks for the replies. Thanks for the link slaney, the explanation was very clear and easily understood.

[slaney]

Transfusion associated GvH disease is pretty rare PP.
As you say - irradiated blood is used to prevent this.

[slaney]

You're welcome, Butterbun...

[woofgang]

not the DNA but the blood type certainly. Note I said "type" not group

[Peter Pedant]

I still think this is for a crime novel...

I did time as a Haematology SHO and clearly it scarred me ( or altered my DNA )

[slaney]

PP - working as haematologist does do strange things to you :)

[Hypognosis]

Yes, even if killed by radiation the DNA (and mitochondrial DNA) in the donated white cells would cause a secondary genetic signature to be detectable, at least for a time after transfusion.

If I recall correctly, the spleen captures dead blood cells and breaks them down into reuseable complonents, so the dead white cells will begin to be cleared up immediately and should all be gone within a few weeks.

Red blood cells have no nucleus, or mitochondria. They suffer wear and tear from squeezing through capillaries that are
narrower than they are and wear out after about 6 months. They have a surface antigen which determines blood type. Under duress, you can be given blood of a different type to your own without a reaction, so the recipient could have two detectably different types in circulation for some months.

However, the laboratory determination of type, during that overlap, would be problematic (but I don't know the details myself).

[Peter Pedant]

I have googled blood type and it says aka blood group

If you give "too much" O neg then you have to continue with O neg and not the patients proper group

( and it will slowly reconvert post operatively )
Messahel in Brum published a case report on this in the BMJ in 1979 but I cant find it

[Hypognosis]

@Peter_Pedant

Now I've got job envy.

I can remember when it was 20 applicants per vacancy for blood test work at the height of the AIDS scare (early 80s) but I failed to even get that. I gave up hope of vocational work at that point and it's partly why I'm such a miserable old ***, to this day.

[Butterbun]

PP, this isn't for a crime novel. Just a straightforward question by someone who wants to know if it could/does happen after receiving a transfusion. It's too complicated for me, I'll go with Slaney's link but thanks to all who answered. It's a bit of an education.