Genetics

We have used germline on other animals. Why should it not be used on humans? Somatic gene therapy for CF is an example - major problems getting the adenoviruses to the target cells in the lungs. Either we have to many viral genes expressed (big immune response) or not enough to get past the immune system. Most scientists say we shouldn't use germline on humans but some might say we have been using it on mice (and other non-human animals) for a while. Any views on this? (erm, no theists please!).

Alright, I need some intelligent people to help me understand what's wrong with me. I'm 22 years old and have been suffering from "mental illness" probably most of my life. It was in 2003 that I experienced full blown psychosis due to Cannabis (marijuana) use. I think, that me using Cannabis was just me self medicating, and the psychosis I experienced, I would have experienced later in life, regardless of the use of marijuana or not. Anyways, the psychosis was an intense experience. It felt like, two entities invaded my body/mind/spirit. The two entities looked like they were fighting to control my mind and actions. Numerous times, I would use my computer (not…

I have always had a hard time seeing how eukaryotes could evolve into brontosaurs over a mere 400 million years. So I did some math. So we have eukaryotes at 600 mya. Let's say that the eukaryotes at the end of the Pre-Cambrian were really big clumps of cells. What they did all day, every day is really beyond me. Now, let's say that the first .1" long micro eel evolves from a Pre-Cambrian eukaryote over about, say, 50 million years. Now, let's say that it takes 3 million years for an eel to evolve into a larger eel by 50%, using information from this article. Now, if we do the math and extrapolate this 50% growth every 3 million years to the middle o…

hi all I need your help in this matter....I am stuck I guess!!!! I collected manure samples from the following animals:cow, deer, pig, chicken, chicken litter. Then I amplified the 16S rDNA from each animal DNA using universal primers 515F/1492R. I could amplify the 16S rDNA gene from all of the animal samples except the deer. The PCR protocol I am using is: 94C for 10min 35 cycles of the following 3 steps: 94C for 1min 50C for 1min 72C for 1.5min 72C for 10min 4C for hold the previous protocol worked for all animal samples except the deer sample!!! I used Fast Prep kit to extract the DNA. The melting temperature for 515F primer is 63.8 and fo…

"The neutral theory of evolution (Box 1) is the accepted null model for the evolution of DNA sequences. It postulates that the vast majority of nucleotide sequence differences observed between species do not affect function, and that many or most mutations in nucleotide sequence are deleterious and therefore subject to negative natural selection. Therefore they never (or only rarely) come to fixation. An alternative possibility, which might apply at the phenotypic level, is that most differences between species are adaptive and fixed by positive selection. " excerpted from http://www.nature.com/nrg/journal/v7/n9/full/nrg1940.html How to understand the above…

During transformation in the laboratory the DNA does not destroyed,even it is not methylated.why?

If we have 46 chromosomes and other primates have 48 chromosomes then there must have been a point during our evolutionary path that two chromosomes fused together to form one chromosome (from what i've read it is apparently chromosome 2). If this is true then the fusion of these 2 chromosomes must have been a random mutation according to darwinian evolution. However if this new mutant hominid had any offspring with any of the other hominids around it that still had the 'normal' chromosome number then it's children would be infertile (as in the cases of mules were the horse has 64 chromosomes and the donkey has 62 chromosomes giving an offspring of 63 chromosomes that doe…

Hiya. I found 2 papers talking about what I have mentioned in the title. They are accessible via the links: http://www.springerlink.com/content/h107848j00l9u6q2/ http://www.springerlink.com/content/r74733p30331785k/ As they have been fitted into the category of "experimental biology" and "experimental genetics", I figured this would be an appropriate place to post. I do not have access to the relevant journal, so I was hoping someone here would be able to have a look at this and give me their make of this. The reason the these documents have piqued my interest is because the subject seems to be about distant inter cellular electromagnetic interactions(as a physicist…

... for a person to have one of the following mutations: 1) to be able to see into the infrared and ultraviolet wavelengths 2) To be able to hear ultra and infra sonic sound waves. Anyone?

There has been a lot of discussion about the importance of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Africa. Opponents argue that GMOs present no benefits to African farmers. Proponents say that the U.S., Canada, Argentina, India, China, and to a lesser extent South Africa have benefited from GMOs by commercializing genetically modified crops, and, therefore, Africa has no choice but to follow suit. Just last week, Kofi Annan joined the ranks of skeptics of genetically modified crops by affirming that the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), which he heads wouldn't integrate these crops in its programs. Mr. Annan's position has received stiff opposition, es…

My husband has bent pinkies which is a single gene trait that he did not seem to inherit from his parents or grandparents in this case would it be considered a gene mutation and be a homozygous dominant with both allell's being dominant and therefore 100% of his offspring having bent pinkies? He has 2 sons and both of them have bent pinkies could he have a third that does not if he is a true homozygous dominant? Would a mutation that appeared first in him be homozygous dominant? Any help that I could get in this topic would be greatly appreciated.

i was watching star trek: nemesis the other day, as beverly crusher analyzed the entire genetic code of picard's clone in a few moments. i was wondering how cool it would be if we could do that - it seems a first small step has been taken. apparently a machine the size of a photocopier can sequence 100 million letters in a few hours. current technology before this breakthough could do only 50,000 in the same time. pretty cool eh? wat are ur thoughts on this? http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070712134819.htm

there's always that saying that "(insert personality trait) runs in our family", but are personality traits really caused by genes? i'm sure our upbringing has something to do with it, and because we are talking about the human psyche, i wouldn't think it would "run in the family". should this maybe be in Psychology?

I don’t remember the exact details of the “YouTube” story, but someone proposed this dilemma: You are in the side of a road and suddenly you see a old woman, age 50, and two children, age 5 and 10, caught in the middle of the road of intensive traffic and you realize that they are about to be killed. You have time to save just one of them. Who would you choose and why ? A lot of people answered that they would choose to save one of the children but they were incapable to explain why. Then a poster called “MysteriousMaskMan” posted a video explaining why most people would choose to save one of the children instead the old woman. He based his explanation on EVO…

It is very unlikely that a Chihuahua could successfully mate with a Great Dane. And sexual isolation is one of the criteria that separate species. Are dogs of different breeds so different to each other that they have become different species ?

Why would the chromosomes of a gamete not be used to produce a karyotype?

Hello, everyone. I have a silly question about human genetics. I was a clinical laboratory science undergraduate student, and i haven't take any class of molecular biology or genetics, so i'm afraid i'm going to ask a question that may be silly. I was watching the show about 100 discoveries over the past century by the discovery channel, and when i watched the genetics part, at the end of it, it was about human genome project. The head scientist said that human has about 26000 genes. and i have one question that has bothering me since i watched the documentary. how to know that human has 26000 genes? from the little knowledge i gathered from general biology. the ge…

Hi everybody! Could anybody explain me the relation between the selection coefficient, the Malthusian fitness and the Darwinian fitness? I'm reviewing some papers and the authors uses one or another without explaining anything. How can I convert this parameters? Thanks!

this question is driving me insane. i tried every website but cant find the answer to it. if anyone knows please post. In which direction(s) does the translocation of plant food occur?

Hi everyone, I was hoping someone could explain something I was reading? Below is the text I read and I have put my question in bold. Before meiosis begins, the chromosomes are copied exactly. The DNA of each chromosome is replicated to form two chromatids. They then arrange themselves into homologous pairs (both coding for the same characteristics), and prepare for cell division. At this point maternal and paternal chromatids can exchange bits of DNA to recombine their genetic material and increase the potential for variation (If the chromosomes are copied exactly, why would they exhange bits of DNA as the are just swaping like for like? Also if this is before …

Alright, I'm a bit sketchy on genetics. However, I have this idea... scrutinize it all you want, that's why I'm asking. Let us speculate for a moment that with Genetic Engineering technology 25 years distant, it would be possible to engineer a tree, up to, say, several hundred (or thousand) times it's normal dimensions. Is this remotely reasonable? The reason I ask this particular question, it might just provide amazing solutions to overpopulation. Consider a tree capable of surviving in (or under) saltwater in flooding conditions. A geneticist alters its genes, and triggers it to grow rapidly, without halt for several decades far beyond what it could a…

I did my dissertation on this, and i think it's a relitively interesting idea. the basic jist is as follows: find a restrictase and methylase that are both small enough to fit through the nuclear membrane (<50kDa) so that they can get from the cytoplasm to the genome. find a methylase that methylates the sequence HCH (H = notG) at the 4 position (eg, H 4-methyl-C H). this is so that the methylation will not interfere with the eukaryotic gene silensing method (of methylating CG pairs), and because, afaict, 4-methyl-cytosine glycolase does not exist (so the BER mechanism will not reverse the methylations). Find a restrictase that recognises a sequence co…

Is there an assay for yeast to see if they are haploid or diploid?

Hi! I have recently done a lab experiment with drosophila and I need some help with the results. I mated female vestigial with male apterous and the F1 gen was all wild type. I am trying to reason this but having trouble. If vestigial and apterous are both recessive (vv and aa) then they should produce vvaa F1...not wild type, right? Wild type would be VvAa...or so I thought. Could someone please give me some insight?

Today I read an article saying that scientists have created the world's first human-sheep chimera—which has the body of a sheep and half-human organs. They're working on being able to grow most or all human organs in animals—so they can later be transplanted into humans who need them. Eventually, they hope to precisely match a sheep to a transplant patient, using their own stem cells to create their own flock of sheep. The process would involve extracting stem cells from the donor's bone marrow and injecting them into the peritoneum of a sheep's fetus. When the lamb is born, two months later, it would have a liver, heart, lungs and brain that are partly human and avai…