Deciphering The Code Of Life The Human Genome Project Essays

Deciphering the Code of Life ? The Human Genome Project The study of all genus of various organisms will yield answers to some of the most intriguing questions about life: how organisms evolved, whether synthetic life will ever be possible and how to treat a wide range of medical disorders. Human genome contains all of the biochemical instructions ? in the form of the DNA bases A, T, C and G- for making and containing a human being. The payoff from the reference work will come from understanding the proteins encoded by the genes. Proteins not only make up the structural bulk of the human body but also include the enzymes that carry out the biochemical reactions of life. They are composed of unites called amino acids linked together in a long string: each string folds in a way that determines the function of a protein. The order of the amino acids set by the DNA base sequence of the gene that encodes a given protein, through intermediaries called RNA; genes that actively make RNA are said to be "expressed". The human gnome project seeks not just to elucidate all the proteins produced within a human but also to comprehend the genes that encode the proteins that are expressed, how the DNA sequences of those genes stack up against comparable genes of other species, how genes vary within the human species and how DNA sequences translate into observable characteristics. Layers of information built on top of the DNA sequence will reveal the knowledge imbedded in the DNA. These data will fuel advances in biology for at least the next century. In a virtuous cycle, the more scientist learn, the more they will be able to extrapolate, hypothesize, and understand. Will the three dimensional structures of proteins be predictable from their amino acid sequences? A protein's structure is conserved much more than its amino acid sequence is. Many different amino acid sequences can lead to proteins of various proteins by studying a representative subset of proteins in detail. Recently an international group of consortium intends to get the most information out of each new structure to group proteins into families that are most likely the same architectural features. Then the members of the consortium plan to target representatives of each family for examination by pain staking physical techniques. Structural biologist work a group of proteins into categories fro the practical aim of solving structures efficiently. The fact that proteins are so amenable to classification reverberates with biological meaning. It reflects how life on the earth evolved and opens the door to a question cameral to understand in the phenomenon of life itself. Is there a set of proteins common to all organisms? What are the biochemical processes required for life? Already with several fully sequenced gnomes available- mostly of bacteria- scientist have started to take inventories of genes conserved among these organisms, guided by the grand question of what constituted life, at least at the level of a single cell. If scientist invented a genome that crafts a cell around it self and the cell reproduced reliably, the exercises would prove that the scientist had deciphered the basic mechanisms of life. Such an experiment would also raise safety, ethical and theological issues that cannot be neglected. Research of single cells will be research of the past. The genome project will spark similar analysis for 1000 genes and cell components at a time. Within the next half-century, wit all genes identified and all possible cellular interactions and reactions charted, pharmacologist developing a drug or toxicologist trying to predict whether a substance is poisonous may well turn to computer models to answer their questions. Another question asked is will the details of how genes determine mammalian development become clear? Being able to model a single cell will be impressive, but to understand fully the life-forms scientist are most familiar with, they will plainly have to consider additional levels of complexity. Scientist will have to examine how genes and their products behave in place and time that is in different parts of the body and in a body that changes over a life span. So far developmental biologists have striven to find signals that are universally important in establishing an animal's body plan,