could nids utilizes the entire dna of something?

[hunk]

Me and my friend have been discussing what exactly can the nids use from dna I was under the assumption that they could utilize every part of it once they consume some but my friend brought up a point about warp and how the primarchs are related to the warp in some way and that the nids wouldn’t be able to use their dna to make anything he also said that he doesn’t think the nids can use gene seed fully to integrate it into a life form what parts of a space marine we used to create the tyrant guard? Did the hive mind use the gene seed to make them or just space marines traits also would the nids get anything from consuming custodians ?

[Kitane]

Nids aren't overly fond of warp-tainted DNA, given their reluctance to reabsorb Ymgarl genestealers. They are master bio-engineers, but warpcraft is a mockery of natural laws, unpredictable and uncontrollable.

This might change as the story of Kronos fleet evolves further, Nids are tackling the chaos issue head-on now.

[yoritomo]

I don't think tyranids "using DNA" means what you think it means.

Tyranids consume bio-mass in order to create new bodies. They use all the bio-mass (excluding natural loss due to the laws of physics of course) to do this. Of what they consume, they can take parts of that DNA and use it to augment existing tyranids. Once tyranids have the DNA from an organism they can reproduce it as they see fit.

Think about it this way, if you were to "use" 100% of DNA than wouldn't you just end up with a clone?

[hunk]

Nov 19, 2019 23:36:01 GMT yoritomo said:

I don't think tyranids "using DNA" means what you think it means.

Tyranids consume bio-mass in order to create new bodies. They use all the bio-mass (excluding natural loss due to the laws of physics of course) to do this. Of what they consume, they can take parts of that DNA and use it to augment existing tyranids. Once tyranids have the DNA from an organism they can reproduce it as they see fit.

Think about it this way, if you were to "use" 100% of DNA than wouldn't you just end up with a clone?

But wouldn’t they take some traits of the dna to use in their Army to make new units I’m asking if could they pick out any part of a creatures dna and use that in a new life form or an existing one to make it better?

[gorsameth]

I don't know if its mentioned in the current background but previous codexes indeed described how Tyranids used the dna harvested from different species to create their own.
Aka Hive Guard had Space Marine DNA, Zoanthropes Eldar ect.

I'm also not sure if the refusal of the hive mind to absorb the Ymgarl stealers is because of the warp. The 6e edition Codex merely mentions their mutation is to unstable.

[sarcron]

Yeah, the 7th ed. codex mentioned as well, or maybe the 8th I can't remember. For all the advantages the ymgarl mutations can have, the hive mind doesn't want to absorb the ymgarl genestealers back in to possibly corrupt other nids. The random mutation isn't always useful.

[xenith]

Nov 20, 2019 0:04:00 GMT hunk said:

Nov 19, 2019 23:36:01 GMT yoritomo said:

I don't think tyranids "using DNA" means what you think it means.

Tyranids consume bio-mass in order to create new bodies. They use all the bio-mass (excluding natural loss due to the laws of physics of course) to do this. Of what they consume, they can take parts of that DNA and use it to augment existing tyranids. Once tyranids have the DNA from an organism they can reproduce it as they see fit.

Think about it this way, if you were to "use" 100% of DNA than wouldn't you just end up with a clone?

But wouldn’t they take some traits of the dna to use in their Army to make new units I’m asking if could they pick out any part of a creatures dna and use that in a new life form or an existing one to make it better?

They already do. Zoanthropes used Eldar DNA, and have pointy heads like eldar. Biovores used Ork DNA and have square heads like orks. Tyrant Guard used Marine and have fused ribcages like marines. 

They've reigned back on giving explicit examples with the new units since 3rd edition, but we can assume it still works that way.