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Archives
MEDICINE and GENETICS IN THE NEXT 100
YEARS
Part 2
Will
GENE THERAPY produce a FRANKENSTEIN
FUTURE?
Gene
therapy is now in the ascendant. Last month I covered the
story behind the mapping of the human genome -
our very DNA. This month - some of the practical results
of this work.
WHAT IS THE POTENTIAL OF THE MAPPING OF THE
GENOME? The government Human Genome Project completed
the first draft of the map of chromosomes 5, 16, and 19 in mid
April 2000. This was extremely useful for researchers, who know
these particular chromosomes are involved in schizophrenia,
diabetes, some cancers, and hypertension. They now know where
to focus their attention in looking for treatments for these
conditions.
This does not mean that the cure for, say, diabetes is around
the corner; but it does mean that, in time, a cure will
certainly be available for the disease, for most people,
through gene replacement.
To put the future in some perspective...
...LET'S TRAVEL BACK 100 YEARS... In the Spring of
1900 - precisely 100 years before Craig Venter announced his
mapping of the human genome - one William Bateson was talking
to the Royal Horticultural Society.
The previous year, Bateson had said that detailed testing
must be carried out into how various characteristics of
plants were passed on from generation to generation.
He then discovered - funnily enough, at the same time as three
other researchers independently discovered it - the remarkable
work of an Augustinian monk called Gregor Mendel.
Mendel had observed and recorded the transmission of various
characteristics of pea plants down the generations. By 1863,
Mendel had tested 28,000 plants, and carefully recorded his
results - a treasure-store of data for the hungry researchers -
Bateson, as well as Hugo de Vries, Carl Correns, and Erik von
Tschermak.
A PATTERN? Mendel had been intrigued by the differing
characteristics of peas, and felt there must be some pattern.
He had discovered that certain characteristics - such as the
shape of the seed pods - were 'dominant' ie. they took
precedence over other characteristics which were
'recessive'.
Recessive characteristics did not necessarily disappear,
however; they could remain hidden, to re-appear in a future
generation.
APPRECIATED ONLY AFTER HIS DEATH Mendel's
'Experiments in Plant Hybridisation' was published in 1865. He
died in 1884, never knowing how much his work would be
appreciated. Sad, eh?
Bateson said of Mendel's discoveries, "That we are in the
presence of a new principle of the highest importance is, I
think, manifest. To what further conclusions it may lead us
cannot yet be foretold."
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