While you are reading these words or drinkingyour morning coffee, watch TV or sleep soundly, covered with a blanket, powerful computers systematically collect and systematize scientific materials, in which the human genome is in the first place among the studies.
Computers under the direction of scientists-geneticistscarefully cataloged tens of thousands of genes contained in human DNA. According to the predictions of scientists, when all the necessary information is collected and entered into a computer, it will long serve as the basis for studying human biology and for medical purposes.
Scientists also hope that after the human genome is completely decoded, humankind will open the way for therapy, people will learn to correct or replace defective genes.
Doctors also hope that after the genomea person will be fully researched when science learns to read it without difficulty; a new generation of medical products should appear that are safe but very effective in fighting diseases and preventing them.
Perhaps this technology will also allow the doctor to review your genetic data, determine in advance which medication will be best for you.
In addition to the prospects for medicine,some suggest that human genetic engineering can solve many social problems. During the period from the Second World War to the beginning of the 1990s, scientists argued that social problems could be reduced by reforming the economy and various institutions and improving the living conditions of people. However, in recent years, social problems have only increased. Therefore, many psychologists, sociologists and journalists put forward the hypothesis that the solution to these problems should be sought in the genes. Today, some people think that genes more than the environment, affect the behavior of the individual and the whole group.
Also, according to researchers, even thisthe problem can be solved by doing certain manipulations with DNA. Scientists have already managed to double the duration of the existence of fruit flies and worms, and they firmly believe that this same technique can someday be applied to people. The head of the Human Genome project said: “For the first time, we can think about the reality of human immortality.”
“Ha ha!- will ridicule the last statement of the cynics. “They compared too: some kind of fruit flies and worms — and such a highly developed system as a man!” Well, let cynics laugh as much as they like. However, as strange as it may seem to anyone, looking for an answer to the question of how many genes a person has, scientists have concluded that their number is not much larger than the number of genes in such a simple organism as a large worm. If we talk more specifically about this, then approximately a person has 28,000 genes (this is instead of the estimated 100,000, as scientists expected when starting the project).
Although today medicine is rather wideuses the science of genetics for their own purposes. For example, there is the most common method of genetic testing of a human embryo, which has been used since the 1960s.
For analysis, the doctor inserts the needle of the syringe into the uterus.pregnant woman through the navel and takes a sample of amniotic fluid. This fluid is then examined in order to determine if the fetus has any serious genetic disorder.
This procedure, which is absolutely harmless both for the future mom and for her offspring, can warn of such abnormalities in the development of the fetus, such as the development of Down syndrome or spina bifida.
However, not all detected abnormalities in the development of the embryo modern medicine can eliminate. In most cases, it can simply make a tragic verdict: “Abortion is necessary here!”
So here it is in order to learn notjust kill the unborn sick man, and correct its development at an early stage, eliminate unwanted changes in the fetus by genetic engineering, and scientists are trying to uncover the mystery of the human genome.
