Slashdot Mirror
3rd Chromosome Deciphered
veeoh writes: "Another chapter in the human book of life has been published.
Scientists working as part of the Human Genome Project(including some from the Wellcome Trust) have deciphered the complete genetic instructions of a third chromosome, one of the 24 bundles of DNA that carry our genetic material.
The BBC has an
article about the discovery"
I for one am glad that my government is competing with the private sector. This doubling of the research makes sure that it is more reliable when it is finished.
How would you like to get a revolutionary new cancer drug, only to find out that the shotgunning method used by Celera missed a few steps? With the government and Celera both having data, errors can be found and corrected before they cost someone dearly.
There are 24 chromosomes. There are 46 chromosomes. Stop! You're both right.
The average human has 46 chromosomes. There are 23 pairs of them. Of the 23 pairs, 22 pairs consist of similarly constructed mates only differing in the base pairs (AGTC) -- but the structure of the thing is the same. The other set is the XY pair (which determines sex), which are structurally different, ie different sizes, shapes.
So there are 24 kinds of chromosomes, of which most people have 46. Girls have 23 different kinds (no Y) while guys have all 24.
Actually, it's worse than that - chromosomes don't say "make hair like this" - they say "make this protein", and that's -all- they say. To paraphrase a great quote from Alpha Centuari (the game, yes) "You cannot take the gene for an elephant's trunk and put it onto a giraffe, and get a giraffe with an elephant's trunk, because there IS no gene for an elephant's trunk. What you can do with genes is chemistry, because genes code for chemicals."
That said, you don't know HOW a particular protein will interact in a given host unless you know the rest of the chemistry for that host. Stick human growth hormone in a fish, and it won't grow - thus, if you stuck the gene that codes for HGH into a fish, it won't get bigger either.
Then again, all of this is somewhat moot, because for the most part, they do understand a good deal of the biochemistry of animals (including mice) and it's very similar to that of humans.
> Diabetes, now reaching epidemic proportions in
> adults and children, is nearly always caused by
> a poor diet.
Dude, feel free to talk about your eczema however you want because you probably know a fair a bit about it but don't EVEN go spouting this crap about diabetics unless you're going to get your facts straight.
There's two types of diabetes. While I'll grant that one of them is triggered by lifestyle (but that's not all there is to it, else EVERY obese person in the world would be diabetic, which obviously isn't the case), the other is strictly hereditery.
It usually hits kids just as they start going into puberty; sixth grade and around in there. It has nothing to do with lifestyle; I spent easily half my time tearing around the neighrbood with friends and I was within a few pounds of "average" weight, yet fate still plucked me out and gave me the disease.
Unless of course you're prepared to claim that having an active childhood causes diabetes..
Diabetes is hereditary. Fact, end of story. If I sound pissed off, it's because I am.