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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."