Genetics Material/Notes
Genetics Material
Cloning Versus Genetic Engineering
I. Roots of Genetic Engineering
A. 1932 - Aldous Huxley published "A Brave New World"
-- Babies manufactured from fertilized eggs in bottles and grown in artificial wombs.
-- Science Fiction - Science has begun to de-humanize life.
-- Human Technology has created a cast society
-- Genetic Engineering told the story of someone's life - No chance/No choice
-- Advances in technology has made "A Brave New World" a reality
B. Gattaca - Science Fiction Video Clip
-- More Science than Fiction
-- Imagine everything you had was determined by chance
II. Current Day
A. Dr. Richard Seed
1. A CHILLING news reporting of Dr. Richard Seed's most recent debate in which he threatened to leave the US to begin his cloning project!
2. Dr. Seed wants to create 200,000 clones a year and he has already assembled 90% of his team
3. He says that it brings him "one step closer to God"
4. He is 74 years old
5. More Seed links
-- GSR
-- PA News
-- Interview
B. Nations Respond to Seed and Ban Cloning
-- BBC
C. "The potential destruction is greater than the atomic bomb because although the atomic bomb can kill millions of human beings, genetic engineering literally has the ability to change what it means to be human!"
D. Genetic Engineering
-- First became serious in 1990 (Set out to map the Human Genome)
-- 3.5 billion codes of human DNA completely mapped!
E. Human Genome Project Complete
-- 13 billion dollar project
-- Has so much potential to help our lives in so many ways
-- "Mapping the human genome has been compared with putting a man on the moon. But I believe that it is more than that. This is the outstanding achievement not only of our lifetime but in terms of human history," said Dr Michael Dexter, the director of the Wellcome Trust, which funded the UK part of the project.
-- More comments about the completion in this BBC press release
-- Scientists will now be able to identify genes that are related to weaknesses and illnesses
F. Gene Therapy
-- Allows doctors to treat the cause rather than the symptoms of the illness
-- New genes with the correct information are re-inserted into the body and correct that part of the body that was flawed
-- Possible cures for Hemophilia, Diabetes, Parkinson's Disease, Cystic Fibrosis, Lymphnoma, and 100s of others
-- Can now genetically screen a child so that future illnesses that will be contracted are identified and corrected before birth
G. Cloning
-- Producing one or more idividuals or plants that are genetically identical to each other
-- Before you decide all cloning is bad...
-- Nature is the best cloning agent! Out of every 75 human conceptions contains a natural cloning device. A single fertilized egg splits into 2 and they become identical twins! Each has the exact same genetic make-up. One is the original, one is the clone!
-- 1966 Frog at Cambridge University
-- 1997 Dr. Wilmut clonned Dolly (not cloned by division of a cell, but rather from removing DNA and replacing the nucleus)
-- REALITY CHECK - Dolly failed the first 276 times!!!
-- In addition, Dolly was cloned from a 7 year old sheep, so the cells were 7 years old making the life expectancy of the clone shorter.
H. Cells
-- Contain enough information to create an exact duplicate
-- Every cell has the entire blueprint of your whole being in it
I. Cloning Humans
-- "A would argue that this is not a line we would want to cross. I would argue that this is not a line we would want to approach," says Carl Feynman
-- 1998 - Korea Infratility Clinic has the first successful cloned human! NOT FULL TERM, but the process was completed inside a women into the 4th stage cell division!
-- Had the child in Korea been born, it would have been both the daughter and the sister of its mother and its mother.
-- 19 European nations signed a treaty declaring that cloning humans is contrary to human dignity and demonstrates a misusage of human medicine!
J. The Positive Side of Genetic Engineering
-- What about genetically altered plants that have a built-in immunity so you don't have to flood your plant with chemicals anymore?
Notes on the History of Genetics
I. Gregor Mendel
A. Father of Genetics
B. Pea Plants
1. Different Traits
2. Can be crossed easily
3. Reproduction
-- Stamens produce pollen (male sex cell)
-- Pistil (egg cell)
-- When pollen lands on the pisitl, pollination occurs
-- Pea plants can self-pollinate
4. Mendel took pollen from one plant and corssed it with the pistil from another = cross-pollination
5. Selective breeding - crossing of plants or animals that have desirable characteristics to produce offspring with those desirable characteristics
C. Mendel's Experiments
1. 2 Short Pea Plants = a short pea plant
-- purebred short
2. 2 Tall Pea Plants = short and tall pea plants
3. Conclusion - some of the plants were not pure-bred
II. Generations
A. He called the parent generation = P
B. He called the first generation = F1
III. Definitions
A. Dominant - the expressed trait that masks another
B. Recessive - the unexpressed trait, or hidden trait
C. Homozygous - Same (HH or hh)
D. Heterozygous - Different (Hh)
IV. Traits
A. If a trait is dominant, it is capitalized (H)
B. If a trait is recessive, it is lower case (h)
C. Every trait has two alleles (letters) to identify it
D. If a trait is pure-bred dominant = HH
E. If a trait is pure-bred recessive = hh
F. If a trait is heterozygous or a hybrid = Hh (both)
G. Therefore, if I was to tell you that a trait is dominant and it is present = HH or Hh
H. If a recessive trait is expressed, it is always hh
V. Chromosome
A. Rod-like structures found in the nucleus
B. Made of DNA
C. Transfer information to offspring in meiosis
D. We have 23 chromosome pairs = 46 chromosomes
E. Goldfish have 94 chromosomes
F. Dogs have 78 chromosomes
G. The last chromosome pair is the sex chromosome
-- If you have a XX = Female
-- If you have a XY = Male
VI. Other Facts
A. You may have visible traits that neither of your parents have!
B. No physical injuries are passed down!
C. May have traits that are not apparent!
D. Traits are not carried through the blood - through chromosomes
E. You have inherited exactly half of your genetic information from each parent
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