The unique insight brought by the ENCODE project has lead to several revolutionary ideas for the inter workings of genetics on the molecular scale; however, there has been much controversy over the projects findings throughout the scientific community. The ENCODE project states “The vast majority (80.4%) of the human genome participates in at least one biochemical RNA-and/or chromatin-associated event in at least one cell type” (The ENCODE Project Consortium). This statement claims the functionality of the human genome as a whole and is the core theme that will be analyzed.
The human genome was mapped for RNA transcribed regions (functional RNA’s other than protein coding), protein coding regions, transcription factor binding sites, chromatin structure and DNA methylation sites (including histone modifications). (The ENCODE Project Consortium)
Controversy has arisen through multiple facets of the scientific community how this 80.4% has no empirical proof. The grounds for these arguments begin with the definition of function vs. functionality. ENCODE does not take this consideration into the relevancy of function and use the second meaning of function, called casual role. The problem with ENCODE using this definition means that this type of function, from an evolutionary stance, has no protection against mutation or deleterious causes that would leave it non-functional. Because ENCODE decided it was too difficult to find all of these evolutionary conserved protections they used the incorrect definition of function, difficulty in identifying selection does not justify ignoring it. (Dan Graur)
The incorrect use for the meaning of functionality by the ENCODE project has brought more controversy. Functionality according to the ENCOD...
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...a Boychenko,1 Toby Hunt,1 Mike Kay,1 Gaurab Mukherjee,1 Jeena Rajan,1 Gloria Despacio-Reyes,1 Gary Saunders,1 Charles Steward,1 Rachel Harte,2 Michael Lin,3 Ce´dric Howald,4 Andrea Tanzer,5 Thomas Derrien,4 Jacqueline Chrast,4 Nathalie Walters,4 Suganthi Balasubramanian,6 Baikang Pei,6 Michael Tress,7 Jose Manuel Rodriguez,7 Iakes Ezkurdia,7 Jeltje van Baren,8 Michael Brent,8 David Haussler,2 Manolis Kellis,3 Alfonso Valencia,7 Alexandre Reymond,4 Mark Gerstein,6 Roderic Guigo´ ,5 and Tim J. Hubbard1,9 1Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Trust Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, United Kingdom and 2University of California. "GENCODE: The reference human genome annotation for The ENCODE Project." Genome Research (2012): 1760-1774.
The ENCODE Project Consortium. "An integrated encyclopedia of DNA elements in the human genome." Nature 489.11247 (2012): 57-74.
Everyone is familiar with the blue print, or book, of life. Deoxyribonucleic Acid, or DNA, for short. After all, every single cell of our trillion possesses a double-membraned blob (nucleus) just to house it. As with anyone who ever studied genetics, pilgrims to the Delphic oracle in ancient Greece always discovered something profound about them when they inquired of it-but rarely that which they assumed to have learned in the first place. The Greek king Croesus once asked the oracle if he should commence a war with a neighboring kingdom only to be told “You will destroy a great empire”. He did only his own. Likewise, DNA speaks in code with the occasional satirical message. Unlike Delphi, our oracle still speaks, and louder than ever. From
Genetic engineering has been around for many years and is widely used all over the planet. Many people don’t realize that genetic engineering is part of their daily lives and diet. Today, almost 70 percent of processed foods from a grocery store were genetically engineered. Genetic engineering can be in plants, foods, animals, and even humans. Although debates about genetic engineering still exist, many people have accepted due to the health benefits of gene therapy. The lack of knowledge has always tricked people because they only focused on the negative perspective of genetic engineering and not the positive perspective. In this paper, I will be talking about how Genetic engineering is connected to Brave New World, how the history of genetic engineering impacts the world, how genetic engineering works, how people opinions are influenced, how the side effects can be devastating, how the genetic engineering can be beneficial for the society and also how the ethical issues affect people’s perspective.
DNA is made up of phosphates, sugars and amino acids, Adenine (A), Thymine (T), Cytosine(C) and Guanine (G). Each amino acid is paired with its opposite, A is always paired with T and C with G. These pairing in a specific order make codes that cells use as instruction for making proteins that perform specific functions in cells. The purpose of the HGP is to identify all genes in human DNA, store the information in a database, while improving the tools used to sequence DNA (Toriello, pg 15-28.) The project also has to deal with the ethical issues that come from these experiments. In 2003 after 13 years a full strand of DNA was decoded. Of course each person’s DNA is unique, with the exceptions of identical twin, so much more work is yet to be done to make this technology useful in every day life.
Ridley, M. (1999). Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters. New York: HarperCollins.
U.S. DOE Human Genome Project. (2009) Cloning Fact Sheet. [On-line] Available from: http://www.ornl.gov/hgmis/home.shtml, [accessed 5th May 2011].
Epigenetics is the study of both heritable and non-heritable changes in gene translation, which do not stem from mutation. Epigenetic alterations to DNA may occur in several different ways; histone modification, DNA methylations, expression of microRNAs, and changes of the chromatin structure (Ntanasis-Stathopoulos et al). Depending on their presentation, they may be passed on to offspring. The exact mechanism of heritable epigenetic modification has not been discovered, but all of these alterations may have some impact on a wide range of disorders and have far reaching implications in the medical field. The study of epigenetics seeks to answer the age old question of whether nature or nurture is responsible for our phenotype, and it has arrived at the answer that in fact, both are. The discovery of epigenetic changes may lead us to cure many disorders, and even personality problems.
The scientific and medical progress of DNA as been emense, from involving the identification of our genes that trigger major diseases or the creation and manufacture of drugs to treat these diseases. DNA has many significant uses to society, health and culture of today. One important area of DNA research is that used for genetic and medical research. Our abi...
The outcome of the project was perhaps not the outcome the sponsor might have wished for as it had been undertaken from a business point of view and not the more technical computing angle he may have hoped for. This was due to the fact that the author was not on the computing pathway for the degree qualification. The outline of the problem was to investigate the purpose of the Microsoft.
Expressed sequence tags (ESTs) are short, unverified nucleotide fragment usually of 200-800 nucleotide bases. It is randomly selected by single-pass sequencing of either the 5’- or 3’-end of cDNA derived from cDNA libraries that constructed based on mRNA of specific gene. EST data sets has been recognized as the ‘poor man’s genome’ because EST data are widely used as a substitute to the genome sequencing.
In the wake of Genomic revolution, biology that used to be a lab-based science has transformed to embrace Information science. Human Genome Project is a 13-year project focusing on identifying approximately 30,000 genes in human DNA. The information found is stored in databases, analyzed and used for different purposes like simplifying diagnosis of disease, earlier detection of genetic predisposition to specific disease, custom drugs, gene therapy, gene replacement technologies [1]. Technological advancement has been one of the contributors for the early completion of this project.
What scientists mean when they say that all living organisms share a universal genetic code, is that a percentage of DNA in all organisms is the same. Since all organisms share a amount of the same DNA, that means they are all related, and share a universal genetic code. A universal genetic code relates to the hypothesis about the origin of life on Earth, because even though organisms can look totally different, they have to all come from the same origin to share similar genetic codes. Self-replicating molecules are essential to the most popular hypothesis about the origin of life on Earth because of self replicating molecules explain how one organism could have a similar genetic code, as another organism. For example a human and a look completely
The Human Genome Project was one of the most influential studies of our generation. Not only has it left us with a better picture of the human genome in general, but it has also given us valuable information about countless specific genes and what they are responsible for. Some of these genes code for rather menial characteristics, while other can cause life threatening illnesses. Genome Mapping allows for the sequencing of an individual genome in order to help in the prevention and treatment disease.
...igure within the system. The software should enable usability in accordance to the company requirements; it should be in a position to have the functionality that meet the need of the company.
Genome Project, a 15 year program to make a detailed map of every single gene in
...ary part in genotypes of potential interest that human geneticists breeders, as well as evolutionary geneticists are investigating. However, although we have the capability to unravel experiments that the founders of quantitative genetics would have never imagined, but their basic, un-computational machinery that they developed is most easily adaptable to the latest analyses that will be needed. We are far from ‘letting-go’ molecular biologists from the mathematical techniques/systems, because this age in respect to genomics has been forced into accepting gratitude due to the major importance of quantitative methods as opposed to the new molecular genetics. As geneticists tend to map molecular variation as well as genomic data, quantitative genetics will be moving to the front position because of its relevance in this age of rapid advancement in molecular genetics.