Understanding The Book Of Life (1/3) - Cracking The Code episode 7

http://www.medicinema.com/genetics.html
Medicinema Ltd.
From the award winning science teaching series CRACKING THE CODE: The Continuing Saga of Genetics - 9 half hour films that cover the history and basic concepts of genetics - from Aristotle and Mendel through to the new DNA-based world of genomics and GM crops - in a fresh and entertaining style.
Featuring original songs by Moxy Früvous
Produced, written and directed by Jack Micay
Major sponsor - The National Science Foundation

Episode 7 - Understanding The Book Of Life

Reading the Book of Life was just the first step. The ultimate goal is to understand how it works. We are guided towards this new genetic horizon by Francis Collins and Craig Venter, the leaders of the two competing teams that first sequenced the human genome. The initial task is to separate out the genes from the other 98% or so of the genome that doesnt code for proteins, no easy feat since the genes themselves are split into even smaller bits (exons), which are also surrounded by DNA noise. Three different gene finding techniques are explained. One method uses an RNA message to tag the gene that produced it. Another makes use of the codons that act as start and stop signals for the machinery of transcription. Still another method exploits the striking similarity between many of our genes and those of other creatures.

The next task is to work out the function of the proteins produced by these genes. Since many different proteins can be derived from the same gene, this a daunting long term project. Protein function is studied using experimental techniques such as site-directed mutagenesis, which is explained by its inventor, Canadian Nobel laureate Michael Smith. The holy grail of genomics is to program computers to predict the function of a protein from the sequence of its gene - still a distant goal. Another challenge will be to work out which genes act together in networks to produce a complex trait. A key tool in uncovering these networks is the gene chip, which is explained in a visual, easy to understand way.

Small variations in our DNA play a crucial role in disease. The most important human diseases are caused by combinations of variant genes, interacting with environmental and lifestyle factors. These variant networks are far more difficult to track down than the single mutations that cause classic genetic diseases like cystic fibrosis. One way around this problem is to study isolated populations with a high incidence of a particular disease. One such group is the Cochin Jews of Israel, who suffer from a very high rate of asthma. The end result will be a new kind of medicine, based on genetic testing and prevention rather than after- the-fact diagnosis and treatment. This episode also features John Sulston, Eric Lander, Sydney Brenner and Joshua Lederberg. 30 minutes.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Moxy Fruvous
• genetics
• science
• biology
• human genome sequence
• introns
• exons
• Hamilton Smith
• Richard Mural
• gene hunting
• ATG
• stop codons
• Michael Smith
• Francis Crick
• RNA transcriptase
• expressed sequence tags
• ESTs
• Craig Venter
• John Sultston
• comparative genomics
• Eric Lander
• Steve Scherer
• bioinformatics
• computers in genetics
• genomics
• proteins
• Leroy Hood
• proteins as machines
• gene splicing

[doukin215]

@rahoolbhimani i mean theres only 1 period of AP Bio?

[rahoolbhimani]

C period AP Bio till I die

[NickInDetroit]

@jackmicay Good point. However, J Craig Venter was stopped on his sailing trip in more than one country (France being the one I recall) while gathering his samples to be DNA sequenced. France and at least one other country wanted to claim rights to any new genes discovered in "Their" territorial waters. Murkiness is about on this in a legal sense.

[butternutsquashist]

@jackmicay Cheers, I can only half remember the documentary that I'm referencing but I do recall that Sulston didn't have much time for Venters. The doc did allude to a fear of privately owned information on the genome but I'm guessing what you state that this was would never have happened. If I ever find the documentary I'll post it up or link you in to see what you think. Thanks for putting me straight.

[jackmicay]

@butternutsquashist.

A patent and a secret are two different things. You can't patent a genome. It is simply data. You can keep it a proprietary business secret but you can't claim exclusive ownership of it. You can't even patent a gene unless you show what it does and develop a product from it, like a disease test. When you patent something you actually make the details of your discovery publicly known, so it is no longer a secret.

Jack Micay

[butternutsquashist]

@jackmicay Thanks for that I was just going on what I knew from a documentary I once saw, I will do some more research on the subject. I guess in all aspects of science, ego and rivalary come into play when people are researching similar subjects. What are your views on the claim that if Venter's team had mapped the genome independently they would have patented it and not allowed it to be public knowledge as I guess this is the most important outcome of the genome project.

[jackmicay]

@butternutsquashist

This is not what happened. Venter's team, although they made use of the sequencing data from the government funded Human Genome Project, also produced their own data, which was more complete. More importantly their technique for putting all the millions of pieces together was far superior and is now the standard method for sequencing a complete genome. Venter's team did publish their findings.

Jack Micay

[toobsucker]

If we can just get the liberal pseudo intellectual philosopher out of science and replace him with the engineer, science would progress very rapidly

[butternutsquashist]

@bitchoflivingblah Thats not what I was led to believe. The publically funded team which John Sulston was part of mapped the genome before Venter's privately funded team. They uploaded all their findings on the internet as they went along and Venter's team were using this information in their attempt to map the genome. Thankfully the publically funded team prevailed as they published all their findings something the other team were not going to do. If I'm wrong then i'm sure you'll put me strait

[bitchoflivingblah]

Eric Lander - wanker!

John Sulston - WANKER!

commonality - both were losers in the race to sequence the human genome!