ATS1263 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Genetic Discrimination, Determinism, Jesse Gelsinger

The Human Genome Project (HGP) has provided us with a map of our entire genetic code. Studying the human genome may help us discover the answers to many questions including: how many genes we have, how specific genes work, how living things have evolved, how single cells can develop into complex organisms, and how what's in our DNA can cause us to become ill. Most people would say that this information could provide information that would lead to developments in medicine and new ways to prevent, diagnose, and treat diseases. Some people, however, have also acknowledged the dangers of this kind of information, for example genetic profiling might lead to discrimination. Some examples might be that if it is determined by genetic testing that a person has a high risk of developing cancer, should employers be allowed to refuse employment on these grounds? Should insurance companies be allowed to deny them health insurance? What are some of the ethical or other questions that you think can result because of the HGP? As an individual, how might you live your life differently if you know about your genetic predispositions?

1. Characters that show a continuous range of variation, such as height and eye color, usually are controlled:

2. In humans, red-green colorblindness is inherited as a sex-linked recessive trait. In order for a woman to be red-green colorblind, which of the following statements must be true.

3. The x-ray crystallography data collected by Rosalind Franklin suggested to Watson and Crick that the:

4. In the genetic code, _________ one amino acid.

5. During Meiosis I, a homologous pair of chromosomes may not separate, resulting in daughter cells that have extra chromosomes or are missing chromosomes. This can lead to genetic disorders, including Down Syndrome. This phenomenon is called:

6. You are a human geneticist studying the incidence of retinitis pigmentosa in the residents of Tristan de Cunha, a group of small islands in the middle of the southern Atlantic Ocean. The allele for retinitis pigmentosa, which causes a form of blindness, is inherited as an autosomal recessive. You have determined that the frequency of this allele (r) in the population is 0.4 (40%). Using the principles of the Hardy-Weinberg rule, you would estimate the frequency of individuals who are heterozygous for this allele (Rr) in the population to be:

7. Natural selection acts at the level of the:

8. You are working with pea plants, trying to recreate the experiments that Mendel performed. You are doing a dihybrid cross with a plant that is heterozygous for both seed shape and seed color, with the genotype RrYy. Which allelic combinations would you expect to find in the gametes produced by this plant?

9. Biochemist Erwin Chargaff found that in DNA there is a special relationship between the four bases that we now call Chargaff's rule. His observation was that, in an organism's genome the:

10. During DNA replication:

11. During translation, amino acids are joined by peptide bonds to make polypeptides. The formation of these peptide bonds is catalyzed by:

12. If an allele (R) at a gene with two alleles shows complete dominance, individuals with the genotypes ______ will have the same phenotype.

Please rephrasethese sentences:

Genetic modification / engineering
Cloning gives parents the opportunity to choose whatcharacteristics they want their children to have. For instance, theparents want their child to have Albert Einstein’s IQ. Theextraordinary athleticism of Michael Jordan.

Some scientists think human cloning is a good matter becausehuman being can control their evolvement, so that we can ‘create’more artists, athletes, and scientists. If we can choose in thisway, we can enhance human’s achievement.

The healthiness of infants

Cloning can eliminate all the worrying regarding the child’shealth. Scientist can alter the genes to ensure a healthy child.For example, if a mother has given birth to 2 children whichsuffered from Down’s syndrome. Doctors can manipulate and balanceout the number of chromosomes in the embryo to give the mother anormal and healthy child.

Better understanding of genetic diseases

Scientists and ethicists who favor human cloning research arguethat cloning may provide a better understanding of the nature ofgenetic diseases and aid in the production of embryos from whichcells could be obtained to grow various organs for organtransplant.

Help improve lives

The cloning of genetic modified animals can have certainmedical, agricultural and industrial applications. For example,genetically modified cattle can produce milk with certain drugsinside in mass production.
The fundamental criterion of medical science must be the defenceand promotion of the integral good of the human person, in keepingwith that unique dignity which is ours by virtue of ourhumanity.
Human cloning (including the cloning of embryos) has stirredcontroversy in the society since the success in cloning of Dolly inJuly, 97 in Roslin Institude, Ireland.
So, what are the pros and cons of cloning? Will it lead to theextinction of human or improve our lives? What are the religiousperspectives toward cloning? Let us start discussing its ethicalproblems by its advantages first.

Federal statistics show that in vitro fertilization and relatetechnologies have a success rate of less than 20%. Hence cloningmay provide en efficient solution to infertility. This is the keypoint that advocates argue for cloning. Cloning is believed to besolving the problem of infertility. Women that are infertile canhave their own babies with the help of this technique by implantingthe cloned embryos into their bodies. This can eliminate the mentaland physical pains among the infertile couples.
Provide organs for transplantation
pig livers can be transplant to a patient which suffers from liverfailure but there is no human liver available. In this case, thepig liver can be transplanted to the patient temporarily until hecan find a suitable human liver.

The opponents think that this will deprive the human value,because the child is born on purpose, that’s to rescue other’slife. The child will become the equipment of therapy
Despite the painful circumstances, the only way to treat this casemorally is to let the patient dies, not to clone another child.

Therapeutic applications of stem cells potentially could treatillnesses including: Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’sdisease, stroke, heart attack, multiple sclerosis, blood, bone andbone marrow ailments, severe burns by providing skin grafts, spinalcord injuries, and cancer patients who have lost cells and tissueto radiation and chemotherapy.