What is the “Human Genome Project?” Well according to National Institutes of Health and the Department of Energy it is a federally funded U. S. scientific project to identify both the genes and the entire sequence of DNA base pairs that make up the human genome. For those of you that do not know what human genome is it is all the genes and traits that make us up. The past, present, and future are very bright on this project. It all began in 1990, the main study’s goal is to understand the basis of genetic diseases and to gain insight into human evolution.
The original plan was designed to be at least a fifth teen year project, but science has revolved also so the mapping of the genes is going to be finished this year. Animals, and the hope in the future for this project are all very important. Although they have discovered a lot about animals and plants to help understand our genetic makeup, mice have benefited us the most in this project. In fact, all mammals have a close DNA structure that is crucial for us to comprehend if we are to make advances in the future. Scientists have used mice because they are very similar to us in there genetic makeup. Some ways that they are the same is that we both have 3, 000 million bases and 30, 000 genes per 100, 000 bases that means that our size of our genes are approximately the same.
Another reason scientists like using them is because they reproduce quickly, have short life spans, are inexpensive, easy to handle, and can be genetically manipulated at the molecular level. By the scientists using mice it is like an insight of what we look like inside of us. Most genetic disorders are the direct result of a mutation in one gene. There have been many disease and clinical disorder genes discovered so far. The number of disease genes discovered is 1, 112 and the number of clinical disorder genes have been at least 1, 430 in the year 2001 and that was 2 years ago. Many diseases have been linked to genes, however one of the most difficult problems ahead is to find out how genes contribute to diseases that have a complex pattern of inheritance.
Cases of diabetes, asthma, cancer and mental illness all are related to genes, but no one gene has the yes or no power to say whether a person has a disease or not. It is likely that more than one mutation is required before the disease to take over, and a number of genes may each make a contribution to a person’s disease Genes may also affect how a person reacts to environmental factors. The future of the Human Genome Project is really just now beginning to start, although many think it is now ending. They have nearly completed The Period Table of the genes.
The future looks bright it is anticipated that in the short time it will be possible to determine a person’s ability to a succumb to a number of inherited diseases, but not possible to provide any effective treatment. This is because between discovering genes associated with diseases, and determining the exact way it is responsible for the disease and how to manipulate them. There are great hope coming from this project. In conclusion, this whole idea is very interesting and we as a nation will only benefit from this project. I look forward to reading or hearing more of the new advances in the upcoming future. All of us have genes, therefore it is important to learn about the details of how they affect our daily life..