Punnett's Square

A decade ago last week (April 14, 2003), the Human Genome Project was completed. This article composes questions with Dr. Green and compares human genome sequencing then and now. He explains how it is now better and faster, but above all way cheaper. The human genome gave scientists a roadmap of humans, and helps in understanding cancer and rare genetic diseases. With this, we are now able to draw blood of a pregnant woman and analyze the DNA of the unborn child. The Hman Genome Project had come a long way, in that, cost is now way cheaper to analyze DNA, and disease are being understood easier now.

The coelacanth, which was thought to be extinct was seen at a fish market in South Africa in 1938. This fish resembles the lungfish, a fresh water fish that can breath air. The coelacanth has fleshy fins that look like limbs. The genome of the coelacanth was decoded Wednesday in the Journal of Nature. This lead scientist that the lungfish is the closer ancestor to the rise of tetrapods. But further research shows that the coelacanth has 2.8 billion units of DNA which is like a human genome, it is decodable. The lungfish is 100billion units of DNA and at this time is not able to be decoded.

Medical colleges across the states are building new research towers to improve technologies in finding answers to medical issues. A new topic in the medical community is creating a genome of cancer patients to, in the future, create more on point treatments for each patients medical needs and also be able to prevent possible cancers in relatives. This will help lead possible cancer victims in the right direction to be able to give better treatment or hopefully avoid being diagnosed all together.

Scientists have found genetic evidence and have linked the same genetic mutation in patients that have autism to something different such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. This apparently isn’t that surprising of a find since some disorders share some of the same symptoms but it ensures that using the whole genome analysis of children and adults will help in resolving the problem or a more personalized approach. The community has defined an IQ score of less than 70 relating to a a disability but studies have shown a score of 71 and 69 shows little difference of a function of a child, only one may have the disability. But when considering an IQ score family genetic background is taken into consideration

“Imagine if we have a child with a genetic abnormality, but the child’s IQ is 85. Technically, we would not diagnose this child with a disability. However, if the family of this child has IQs around 130, we could consider that this child’s genetic anomaly has ‘cost’ him or her 45 IQ points — a very substantial difference.” states Dr. Lebetter.

After reading this article, I thought what does it have to do with genetics, then I thought, well over time these creatures have genetically developed into hunting professionals. Something must genetically be involved in order for dragonflies to be as quick and predacious as they are. In the article it talks about how their brain is much smaller than humans, obviously, with less than a million neurons working like a human brain of 100 billion neurons. The article tells the reader that dainty dragonfly kills 95% of its prey midair, as compared to a lion only catching 25% of pursued prey. I made a mental link and asked myself the question “genetically what does the dragonfly contain as compared to a beetle, and what is so different about it’s behavior?”

Do the genes that you were born with determine your destiny? Or does what you experience in life shape the way you live it. Nowadays, researchers are very keen to prove that what you’re born with determines how your life would be. However, according to a Science Daily article, there is a possibility that what happens after your birth may change even your genetics.

Dr. Marla Sokolowski (University of Toronto), Dr. Tom Boyce (University of British Colombia), and Dr. Gene Robinson (University of Illinois) are co-editors of a special edition of a journal called Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. This edition contains papers from many different disciplines and focuses on how the early years of an organism’s life may affect the way the organism performs as an adult.

One interesting research project focused on how food depravation affects fruit fly behavior. In this experiment, scientists found two varieties of fruit flies – one with a genetic disposition to explore for food (“rovers”), and one with a genetic disposition to stay in one place (“sitters”). When fed a sufficient diet, both fruit flies acted and reproduced as expected. However, when the fruit flies were nutritionally deprived as larvae, both types of fruit flies searched for food like rovers. In addition, rover flies reproduced as normal, while sitter flies showed a reduction in reproductive ability.

This research shows that stressors in an organism’s early years may affect not only the behavior but also the genetics of humans. Research on humans
has showed that methylation in children who experienced abuse was different than methylation in children who did not experience abuse.

Research studies on animals and humans have large implications outside of the lab. It is appropriate that the editors of the journal sought research from a wide variety of disciplines. Studies on adversity during development could drastically change the way things work in fields such as social work, education, and counseling. Hopefully, further research could be used to help children who are currently being abused as well as adult survivors of child abuse.

New testing has shown that Australian scientists have cured a family of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), a disease that causes heart rhythm disorders. “The research, led by a team from Sydney’s Victor Chang Cardiac Institute and St Vincent’s Hospital, has been published in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology.” Forty-two members of a family who had DCM were screened by doctors established connections in mutated segments of their DNA.

The family members were given drugs that would reverse the consequences of the Gene defect. Normally, treatment of DCM slows the progress but eventually the disease gets to a point where it has gone to far & the only option is a heart transplant. New research and decreasing costs of gene sequencing, along with easier applications to do it, have allowed for this break through. “If you do understand what the underlying gene defect is, there’s a possibility that you can identify a specific drug that will work and will work very effectively.”

This is another great example of science and technology combining to better mankind. Being that we are talking about sequencing & markers in class right now, I saw this article as a real life example of how far sciences understanding has come along. I expect this trend of curing diseases to become much more prevalent in the scientific community.

Medicalnewstoday suggest genes that influence certain hormones may make people more generous and  nice.  It stems from how they perceive the world around them.  The hormones oxytocin and vasopressin are associated to displays of niceness.  Now psychologists  say that people’s niceness may also depend on the genes that control the receptors that bind to these two hormones.  The genes’ influence also depends on if people’s perception of the world is generally good or bad.

Is it all your fault that you're not generous?

Hormones bind with receptors on their surface. Once the hormone is attached, it can send signals into the cell that influence the cell’s function.  There are several genes that control the function of oxytocin and vasopressin receptors.  Researchers claim they found that the genes combined with people’s perceptions of the world contribute to the prediction of generosity.

If niceness was purely genetic, the world could be a very different place.  Because this study shows that this is not the case, it shows that your personality may be linked to what genes you acquire when you are born.  This could eventually lead to being able to choose what personality traits your unborn children will have.

Recently at a speech in the Netherlands, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton warned that assembling genes could eventually be linked to biochemical weapons if the data got into the wrong hands. Clinton believes that further research in this field is beneficial as long as the information does not get leaked out. She believes a deadly organism could be created that could cause a global epidemic due to the genetic information becoming available. It has been noted that groups such as al_Qaeda have been trying to recruit scientists capable of growing genetic material which would decrease the time need to create artifical bacteria an viruses. Whether Republican or Democratic, hatred or love for Hilary Clinton, she brings a valid point to the table. If the genomes of Americans become accessable to the public a mass biochemical weapon could be created that easlily targeted specific sites in American genes.

DNA barcoding technology has rapidly developed over the last decade. The technology behind the barcoding takes the tiniest bit of DNA and compares it to known records. It can identify a whole array of organisms almost instantly. It was used to undermine a fishing scheme, where cheap fish was being passed off as its expensive counterpart. This is when DNA barcoding came under the spot and sparked a series of other useful applications. Another way that DNA barcoding has been used is in identifying mislabeled drugs. A farmer in Malaysia was treating a rubber tree with quinine which gave it a similar taste a drug used in the treatment of diabetes and malaria. The drug was almost indistinguishable from the treated rubber tree when ingested, but the DNA barcoding could easily identify the fake.

In Australia on November 26th over 450 experts will meet to discuss other issues that can be solved through the use of DNA barcoding. DNA barcoding barely existed a decade ago but now it is a vibrant community. As an example of how fast the field is growing in 2005 the University of Guelph housed 33,000 records covering 12,700 species in the Barcode of life data system, It now house over 1.4 million records covering about 167,000 species.