Heredity: DNA Replication & Protein Synthesis

Genetic Technology: Agricultural v.s Human Health

    Genetic technology is the modification of genetics. It is used to alter the genetic material to achieve higher production and be immune to diseases. This is accomplished by usually deleting or inserting genes in organisms.   

    Genetic technology in agriculture, such as genetically modified organisms (GMO foods), is the process of manipulating an organisms' genetic material in which it'll produce organisms that have pest resistance or drought resistance. Also, artificial selection is the process of breeding plants and animals to produce desirable traits. Organisms with artificial selection such as size or taste, are cross pollinated with organisms with those specific desired traits. Remember that cross-pollination is the transfer of pollen from the male reproductive organ(anther) of one plant to the female reproductive organ(stigma) of another plant. Agricultural plants are the most common examples of genetically modified organisms. 

Benefits

• Increased production 
• Drought tolerance 
• Efficient use of fertilizers 
• Ability to produces drugs or other useful chemicals 
• Pesticide use decreases 
• Reduced costs for food production 
• Greater food security 
• Medical benefits for growing world population 
• Crops mature faster 
• Allows crops to grow in conditions it wouldn't normally flourish  

Risks

• May spread undesirable traits to weeds and non-genetically engineered crops (GE crops)
• Produces new allergens and toxins 
• Lower resistance to antibiotics 
• DNA transfer from GMO's to humans and environment
• Birth defects due to glyphosate 
•  Glyphosate is an active ingredient in herbicide and is responsible for causing birth defects, infertility, sperm destruction, and cancer. 
• Can harm animals that consume them 
• Overuse of herbicide-tolerant GE crops  
• Herbicide is a substance that is toxic to plants and is used to destroy unwanted vegetation. 

    Genetic technology for human health refers to the transfer of genetic material that is intended to modify human traits that are not caused by diseases. Another example of making someone better by optimizing all of the capabilities and raising the performance levels. Even in the simple phenotypes, the structure of humans and other complex organisms does not allow controlled genetic modification to occur.

Benefits                                      
1.Disease reduction                    
2.Extended life spans                  
3.Better medicinal drugs            
4.Increased intelligence

Risks 
1. Social equality; unfair advantages, enhanced individuals 
2. No certainty that there will be greater biological fitness 
3. Safety hazard, not 100% 

Sources!

• Genetic Enhancement
• Genetically Modified Plants 
• Human Genetic Engineering
• Genetically Modified crops
• Genetically Modified Organisms  
• Pros and Cons: GMO's 
• 7 ways GMO's affect your health

The Punnet Square

To discover the possible trait compilations a child may gain from their parents scientists use a handy little tool called a Punnet square. It's quite simple and very helpful.
You start with the parents Genotypes - or Gene combinations- Lets say we are looking at a singular trait of eye color. B will stand for brown eyes and be the dominate trait, and b will stand for blue eyes. So say Dad has The traits Bb so his eyes are brown, And mom has the same.
We begin with and empty square.

On the top we put Dad's Gene. and on the left side we put Mom's. Remember that the dominant trait will always go first. Now we carry the B from dad down and place it in the two boxes bellow, do the same with b. With mom's we go to the right.

Now lets look at what our kids could look like.

When you want to know what someone will look like on the outside you will for the Phenotype- or physical appearance- The phenotype is only the first letter. So if our child has BB or Bb than they have brown eyes, they will only have blue eyes if they have bb. 

Now we find the ratio or chances of what our child will have. 

The Genotypic Ratio here is 1(BB):2(Bb):1(bb)  

The phenotypic Ratio here is 3(brown eyes):1(blue eyes)

And that is how you fill out a Punnet Square

The Human Genome Project

What is the Human Genome Project?

The Human Genome Project (HGP) was an international research in which the main purpose was to break the code the complex human genome and be able to prevent some diseases. The project began back in 1990 and it was projected to take 15 years to complete. They ended up beating that time by a couple years (and a bit under budget too) and finished in 2003. They learnt a large handful of useful things about our genome. i.e. they have now found over 1,800 genes that are causes of disease in our bodies. This has helped doctors with diagnostics around the world, and has improved our biotechnology and our abilities to spot some diseases substantially. This is all significant because knowing how our genome works means that we know how humans are made. So basically we've discovered how it is possible that we can make a human. As you probably know, there has already been research into this sort of possibility (designer babies) but it is largely debated that it is an unethical practice. This does not make the HGP a useless research project by any means however. With this knowledge we actually have been able to make a large amount of things easier on ourselves. We have plenty of genetic tests for diseases and it now only takes a few days to find something rather than a year or more, And to ensure that the project wouldn't get out of hand, guidelines were established for what was learned and how it should be used.

The Effect this has on Gene Therapy

Gene therapy is a technique that is currently in the process of being experimented. What it's meant to do is prevent or reduce diseases using genes. This technique (while it is not yet used in practice) has been made entirely possible because of the HGP. Without the knowledge of the sequence of our genomes we would be completely unable to prevent genetic disease. The reason is because of how gene therapy works, which is basically removing a diseased gene from the body and replacing it with a healthy copy. By doing this, the disease is ridden and the patient will be okay. However this still is experimental and is not completely safe yet, but I think that this will be a very good practice in the future.

Summary

The Human Genome Project has been an essential part of our genetic information today and is now allowing us to do truly incredible things. I am very happy that what we have learned is making a difference, but let us not let it slip into becoming something bad. The core purpose of the HGP was to discover our genome and to use that knowledge for good, so let's keep it that way.

What is Genetic Manipulation?

Genetic Manipulation 
Genetic manipulation (A.K.A Genetic modification or genetic engineering) is, by definition, is the direct modification of the genome of an organism. There are a couple ways of doing this, one being selective breeding. This method is not very efficient as you are left to chance to what will happen with the offspring's traits. Although this method has been used for thousands of years, it has become practically unused. Another method of genetic modification is called genetic engineering. In this process, scientists essentially will take out a part of DNA (this is called gene splicing) using restriction enzymes and then put the DNA into something called plasmids for the transfer of the DNA. They take the traits they want to give to an organism from an organism that has the trait they're wanting. They then will insert the plasmids into the organism that does not have the desired trait. This creates a transgenic organism (an organism with genes from another organism.) This will create DNA with both desired DNA and undesired DNA. "To recover the desired DNA, the current technology is to screen unwanted cells from the mixture and then use gel electrophoresis to separate the remaining genes by movement on an electric grid. Gel electrophoresis uses a positively charged grid to attract the negatively charged DNA fragments, thereby separating them by size, because the smaller ones will migrate the most." (Glen E. Moulton, infoplease.com) The result of this process is most commonly known as a Genetically Modified Organism, or GMO for short. This process is used in human genetics to get rid of genetic diseases, however there has been research put into this to modify whatever genes that people would want to modify (designer babies.) This has raised many ethical debates as to whether or not this technique should be allowed to be used to create a different baby and even at all. 

Pros
"1. It can get rid of diseases
With genetic manipulation, it is possible to get rid of many diseases. This means that deadly diseases could just be wiped out before they even happen.
2. Getting Rid of All Illnesses in Young and Unborn Children
There are many things that a child can have before you give birth. i.e. we can see if a child will have Down's syndrome before birth. With genetic manipulation, it is possible that you could get rid of this.
3. Potential of longer life
In genetic manipulation, it is possible to have people live longer by getting rid of some things that would be harmful in later life, or even in early life.
4. Create new and better foods
With genetic manipulation, it is possible to create new foods! We can also make crops and other agricultural things be able to sustain themselves longer in harsher conditions as well as create more of them!
Cons
1. Is it right?
There have been a large number of concerns about whether or not genetic manipulation is 'right' or not. It might not be a good thing to be able to get rid of diseases or make lifespans longer (as we are overpopulated as it is)
2. It may cause genetic defects
Genetic modification has a certain risk to it. There are so many complex things in the human body that scientists cannot, with 100% safety, do genetic modification.
3. It limits genetic diversity
With people selectively choosing what traits they want or don't want, or what they want gone completely, this lowers the amount of diversity that we have between ourselves.
4. Can it go too far?
One of the biggest issues with genetic manipulation is that one day it could be taken too far. We may start to get out of hand with what we start to use manipulation for. We could end up creating super-soldiers for the army or incredible scientists or something to that effect." (Rinkesh Kukreja, Pros and Cons of Genetic Engineering) 
Should we use Genetic Manipulation?
Personally, I think that genetic manipulation is a very good idea that needs a lot of work and structure before we start getting into it. We definitely should not be creating 'the perfect child' or anything for a long time. In time, I think that this will be something that people will begin to turn to as a solution to many, many problems, but for now I don't think that this method is going to be used too much, which is a perfectly fine decision.

Sources: 

 "Genetic Engineering." Infoplease. Infoplease. Web. 7 Dec. 2015.

"Pros and Cons of Genetic Engineering - Conserve Energy Future." ConserveEnergyFuture. 2 July 2015. Web. 7 Dec. 2015.

Steele, Erika. "Genetic Manipulation: Definition, Pros and Cons." Study. Web. 7 Dec. 2015.

"UNL's AgBiosafety for Educators." UNL's AgBiosafety for Educators. UNL's AgBiosafety for Educators. Web. 7 Dec. 2015.

"What Is Genetic Engineering?" Union of Concerned Scientists. Web. 7 Dec. 2015.