Reflection on first part of Cracking the code of life.

1. Would you want to be tested to learn whether they  had a genetic disease or predisposition if no cure available? Why or why not?

I would still want to be tested for this genetic disease or predispositiosn because maybe starting with finding out whether this disease is in my body, so that if in the future there was a cure created that I would be aware that this would be helpful to me. Also, I believe that being informed is much better than not being, because this would allow you to be aware of the dangers your predisposition could carry.



2.  Would you want to have your DNA be part of a study? Why or why not? Would you want royalties for your part in finding the gene? What if during the testing, the company discovered you had a gene that might result in health problems later in life? Would you want to be informed ? Why or why not?
I would not be opposed to having my DNA be part of a study that could prevent people from falling ill and losing their life. Yet if I did I would not ask for anything, because it was just the matter I would have contributed and none of the true time and effort put in by the scientists that actually created the cure. Though if the company did find out that I might have health problems later on in life, I would definitely want to know about it. For the same reasons answered for the question above.

3. I think that keeping the public's genetic makeup private rather than public would help against any developing of genetic discrimination. Yet I don't honestly believe that genetic discrimination will become a very big problem, because there are bigger social issues plaguing society currently.

Empathy Gene

      According to studies, perhaps the reason why a person you might come across is more caring and kind that average could be because of there genes. There have been studies done previously, that showed links of traits to a certain gene variation. This gene the the receptor for a chemical made by the brain called oxytocin. This particular chemical has earned the nickname "love hormone" because of the role it plays expressing the feelings we feel such as anxiety, bonding and empathy. The division between the variates of the oxytocin chemical appear in the "G" and "A" variates. While people with two "G"'s tend to be better at socializing and are more confidant while the people who contain at least one "A" often have more mental health issues, are more likely to be autistic and find dealing with stress hard.

      I found this article to be interesting because I always thought that the kindness we express, and the kind of person you are, or empathy is something that has to be taught while growing up. I believed that the level of kindness and caring depended on your surrounding environment. So I was quite intrigued when I read that the level and willingness to express feeling and emotions to people is wired into to your DNA. 

Mendel's Pea Experiment

Gregor Mendel was a monk from Central Europe, he gave us the modern understanding of how genetics work. One of Mendel's famous experiments is one that he did with peas. Mendel took one green pea plant and crossed it with one yellow pea plant, his hypothesis was that the resulting offspring would be a yellow-green pea plant. Yet the result of his experiment was that all the offspring of the 2 pea plants were yellow! Thinking that he had made a mistake in the experiment, Mendel repeated this experiment many time, but he got the same result every time. Mendel then bred the first offspring generation (f1) and found that the second offspring generation (f2) had a ration of 3:1, which meant that out of 4 one pea was green while the rest were yellow. Looking at the experiment Mendel concluded from the f1 generation that the yellow gene was dominant and from the f2 generation that the green gene was recessive. This was not just relative to colour but to other traits as well. 

     In class we did a similar experiment where instead of growing our own plants, which would take a while, we took a bucket with a mix of yellow and black balls. From looking inside the bucket it was evident that the number of yellow balls exceeded the number if black ones. The test was to reach inside the bucket without looking and take four balls then record the number of black balls and yellow ones. At the end of our experiment after tallying up the results, we concluded that is the yellow and black colours were genes for a certain trait that the yellow gene would be dominant while the yellow would be recessive. 

       When conducting our experiment, we had to take a number of results because they varied each time. I imagine this is what Mendel must've done when working with the pea plants in his experiment. The test must've been repeated many times to ensure results that were adequate. This is the same for really any experiment, if the conclusion that comes out of the experiment, you wish to be accurate the experiment must be repeated a few times at least.
      To conclude, if believe we can agree that without Mendel's discoveries and experiments, that the modern understanding of genetics would be different from what it is today. 

Gattaca

I found the movie Gattaca very interesting. Not only was the idea that people could be discriminated because of the DNA they are born with, something, if it is natural, you have to live with it. In Gattaca it really doesn't matter if you have any other important talents or attributes what really matters is how your DNA results appear. While to whole idea of being able to "engineer" humans with certain DNA traits sounds fascinating, the idea that if your DNA is perfect you could be discriminated for it doesn't sound so promising. This is shown with the main character, Vincent Freeman. Being born with the DNA he has he is told that the probability of him developing a mental disorder is high, that he has a heart defect, his life expectancy is 30.2 years and is near sighted all because his birth was natural and not engineered unlike his brother. This in reality destroys any dream he was of making it to space. Unless he becomes someone else or a borrowed ladder, which is essentially becoming a 'valid' by borrowing their DNA. This is another interesting concept, asking us if taking samples of someones DNA and altering your appearance is all it really take to "become" this person. He buys this DNA from a man named Jerome, who is wheel-chair ridden after being hit by a car. Everyday Vincent must rid himself of his own cells by washing and scrubbing himself frequently and replace these with Jerome's. To get by screening Vincent also uses everything from hair, tissue, blood and urine samples from Jerome.  I found this movie to be quite thought provoking in terms of different kinds of discrimination within society while as well as teaching me about DNA, and how it shapes us.  It shows how Vincent's determination fights all the odds and he can eventually fulfill his dream.