01:830:338 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Human Genome Project, Human Genome, Behavioural Genetics

• School: Rutgers University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: 01:830:338
• Professor: Professor Lyra Stein

Document Summary

Genome refers to the complete set of genes that an organism possesses. Human genome contains 20,000 40,000 genes on 23 pairs of chromosomes. Human genome project is designed to sequence the entire human genome i. e. , identify the particular sequence of dna molecules in human species. But identifying sequence of dna molecules does not mean identifying the function of each molecule. Most genes in a human genome are the same for all humans. Small number of genes are different for different individuals, including genes that indirectly code for physical traits and for personality traits. Behavioral geneticists attempt to determine the degree to which individual differences in personality (for example) are caused by genetic and environmental differences. Modern behavioral geneticists who study personality are typically very careful about addressing implications of work and are sensitive to ideological concerns. In addition, finding that a personality trait has a genetic component does not mean the environment is powerless to modify the trait.