Imagine,
a world in which we no longer have to worry about disease. No microbes,
bacteria, viruses, or anything can get past our advanced immune system
defenses. Steady diets of food filled with antibiotics that the bugs can’t seem
to adapt to, drugs that have no long term repercussions to us because we
finally understand what it’s going to
do on a molecular level to our structure. Now imagine that world not so far
away.
When
Watson and Crick completed their DNA model of the double helix in 1953 it was
groundbreaking. The structure of DNA was so complex and astounding; they never
could have fathomed it going much further than that. DNA was the final piece to
the puzzle. Of course, that’s what they thought about Vitalism originally and
I’ll bet you probably never even heard of that.
So
we coasted for a few years, then technology caught up to science and new
discoveries were made. Through the merging of biochemistry and genetics a new
branch of biology was being formed. Genomics. The study of the isolation and
sequencing of genes in order to understand their functions within the human
body and the source of their formation. See, before Genomics came along there
was a problem. Biochemists weren’t communicating with geneticists and
geneticists weren’t communicating with biochemists. It’s not because they were
like Marines and Seals, always fighting with each other, it was just because
they didn’t see what they were doing as the same. Once they set aside their
differences and worked together, there was a huge boom in the medical and
scientific communities using techniques developed through gene isolation. We’ll
talk about those in a minute, but first, let’s talk a little about the two
biology departments that brought us to the fringe of this strange new era.
Biochemistry
The
biggest part of science that people often forget is observation. It’s the core
of discovery really. You can’t learn how something works without studying it,
and the first part of studying whatever it
is, starts with observation.
Take
for example the seemingly simple process of fermentation. Wine and spirits have
been around for thousands of years. The core elements that go into making them
remain unchanged. All you need is room temperature, fresh produce of some kind,
sugar, water, time, and skill. But wine can brew itself all alone, in fact, the
way they discovered the process of this was through observation.
In
the early 1800’s they noticed that when a glass of fruit juice was left out at
room temperature that over a certain amount of time it began to react
strangely. When you looked at it the liquid inside seemed to be churning
violently with what appeared to be no outside forces acting upon it. After a
while the churning would stop and the juice would become cloudy, when that
cloudiness cleared you were left with alcohol. As the brew churned it produced
a gaseous byproduct that if not vented properly became explosive. This was
discovered to be Carbon Dioxide.
Scientists
determined what was happening. The yeast inside the fruit was eating the sugar
(so to speak), and this process caused the violent churning. When the sugar was
gone, the yeast was consumed. Their waste they expelled during the process was
Co2 and the end result was alcohol. But could this process happen without the
yeast?
They
added chemicals, sulfides, they mashed the hell out of the yeast, boiled it,
froze it, but nothing they did would work. They chalked it up to Vitalism;
strange forces that at the time were basically unexplainable often became part
of this theory. Well the reality of it was that it wasn’t strange forces at work;
it was just a funky little enzyme doing his thing.
By
adding these caustic chemicals to the mash and boiling the ingredients, in
their attempts to understand what caused it they were actually permanently
halting this process by killing the main offender. The enzyme that causes yeast
to perform its function dies when it comes in contact with the chemicals they
were adding and the intense heat they were putting it under. It wasn’t until
1897 they figured it out, and even then some were skeptical.
Enter
Eduard Buchner. Before he won the Nobel Prize Buchner made a remarkable
discovery, one that would flip the scientific community on its head! Using a
modified mortar and pestle he ground the yeast up with a mixture of sand and
quartz. He didn’t do this rigorously, just enough to separate the yeast and
break it up a bit. The crushed yeast was then squeezed through a press leaving
behind yeast juice and guess what? This yeast “juice” could perform the same
task that the whole yeast could. It wasn’t the work of cells within the yeast,
it was something else.
Enzymes.
That’s
right, in 1907, because of his discovery made through observing fermentation;
this German chemist discovered the enzyme, one of the fundamental ingredients
in modern biology. What’s even funnier, in his acceptance speech he basically
says he can’t picture us breaking it down any further than an enzyme! Oh
Buchner, if only you could see the field of biochemistry now that you
inadvertently fielded.
Vitalism
was dead; it was time for a new era of biology.
Genetics
So
if biochemistry is the study and analysis of how a single process functions
within an organism then what’s genetics? Well in a sense, genetics is kind of
the opposite of biochemistry. In genetics, instead of studying the process that
makes the organism tick, geneticists want to take the gene away, modify it, put
it back in, and study the organism then. In a barbaric sense, a biochemist will
throw a butterfly in a blender, pull the wings out, and study how they flap. A
geneticist will find 30 crippled butterflies and study why it is the wings won’t flap.
1907,
Buchner is nationally recognized for his works. Two years later, in 1909,
Thomas Hunt Morgan, another brilliant scientific mind is hard at work on
something that will once again revolutionize the scientific community. But
first we need to talk about someone else. The man who laid the groundwork for
his research.
Decades before Morgan, a Czech scientist by
the name of Gregor Mendel while doing work with pea plants made a remarkable
discovery.
In
plants that exhibited genetic abnormalities, sometimes its offspring would
exhibit the same signs. This fascinating observation led to Mendel’s 3-to-1
ratio which basically implies that out of three subjects sharing similar
genetic information, one will exhibit the genetic abnormality. Like most fringe
scientists, Mendel received his accolades posthumously, for in his study of the
pea plants he, like Buchner, had accidentally created a new science, genetics.
Morgan
was skeptical of Mendel’s theories of heredity. So he set to work with fruit
flies in an attempt to prove him wrong. What he inevitably did however would
have made the late Dr. Mendel smile with pride. He proved him right.
By
exposing his fruit flies to various harsh conditions, (radiation, ultraviolet
light, etc.) eventually an abnormality developed. Some of the flies were born
with red eyes. Then the next generation came. Some of these flies were born
with white eyes. When the two generations of flies were cross-bred they
produced a gene that would sometimes be passed down to their offspring.
Remarkably, it was in a 3-to-1 ratio, just as Mendel had described 40 years
before.
From
wine to flies, the journey to where we are now sure has been a strange one.
Can’t We All Just Get
Along?
So
now, years later, we finally have all the different biology fields talking to
one another. Turns out, we were all playing for the same team the whole time,
it didn’t matter what avenue we pursued, the end result always brought us back
to the core principles of biology, so why not share with each other? It
certainly helps usher progress along.
Turns
out it was a good idea, because after three billion dollars and decades of
research, scientists isolated tons of human genes. Then they did it again, this
time it only cost a couple million dollars. Then again, and again, and again,
until thousands of genetic markers
had been identified. Markers that identified the onsets of cancers and birth
defects. Genes that led to better medicine in treating cardiovascular disease
and cystic fibrosis. It doesn’t just stop in the medical world either. Genomics
carries over into the agricultural community, creating strains of plants that
can stand up to harsher conditions so as to be grown in climates with poor soil
or maybe temperamental weather. The applications of it are endless, so it’s a
good thing they all decided to play nicely with one another.
Before
we go any further into Genomics, genes, splicing, and sequencing however I
would like to take a minute to go over some of the terms. As this is a newer
science and not a lot is commercially known about genetics (since we all know
what Kim Kardashian is wearing is more important than the latest nanotechnology
that can kill cancer cells with early detection) due in most part to poor
education standards and lack of media coverage. I promise this will be
painless.
·
Genomics: the branch of molecular genetics
concerned with the study of genomes, specifically the identification and
sequencing of their constituent genes and the application of this knowledge in
medicine, pharmacy, agriculture, etc
·
Genetics: The science of heredity, dealing with
resemblances and differences of related organisms resulting from the
interactions of their genes in the environment.
·
Genes: The basic physical unit of heredity.
·
Genetic Sequencing: Determining the number of nucleotides
that are present in a polymer chain of DNA or RNA (or amino acids in proteins)
·
Genetic Splicing: Joining of DNA or RNA segments
together.
·
DNA: Deoxyribonucleic Acid (or DNA for
short) is the carrier for our genetic structure and information. It is a long
chain of nucleotides that is composed of chromosomes that carry the heredity
information passed down to offspring.
·
RNA: Ribonucleic Acid, plays a vital role
in the synthesis of proteins. Like DNA is a carrier, but not for genes.
·
Chromosomes: The gene carriers.
·
rRNA: Ribosomal RNA, the structural part of
a ribosome.
·
Ribosomes: An organelle that manufactures
proteins, an essential component to the human body.
Holy
crap! You mean to understand this I have to understand all that?? Forget this!
I have a life…well just hold on a minute. You don’t need to understand how all
those elements work together in the body (unless of course you’re a genomics
major then it’s strongly advisable that you do know this) but you do need to
understand there are a lot of forces at work here that need to be analyzed
individually and as a whole, many times over from many different angles. You
don’t need to know why they do what they do, you just need to understand they
do all this harmoniously.
It
took thousands of years of intense study to bring us to where we are, now that
you understand a little more about that history, I suppose it’s time we talk
about the future. Now that scientists can affordably analyze the human genome,
sequence it, and pick out specific genes that cause predetermined effects in the
3-5 thousand dollar range now, let’s talk about why this new science is not
only exciting, but extremely important to our future as a species. And what one
corporation has done to single-handedly damage the image of Genetics research
to a state possibly beyond repair.
Bad Seeds: Corporate
Farming
Perhaps
the most damning of all evidence in the fight for people against genetic
engineering is the wonderful ecologically friendly (I can barely say that with
a straight face) company Monsanto. With wonderful innovations like Agent Orange
and DDT what could possibly go wrong with letting them modify our food?
Well,
that’s just the problem. You can’t hate the science because of the evil
applications some people put to it. Fire may burn down houses, but it was
invented to keep you warm originally. Keep that in mind before you condemn the
study of GMO foods.
The
reality is that it isn’t the scientists, or the farmers. It’s actually the
corporations, the politicians, the FDA that are to blame. Scientists tried to
argue and say that these were dangerous and needed decades more research in
order to be safe for public consumption. Unfortunately companies and investors
are only driven by money and not public safety. The dangerous conclusive
findings were buried. GMO seeds went to market and effectively infected the
organic population.
See
what happens is these modified plants go to seed and spread via whatever
transport mechanism the species employs. When this genetic material is carried
in the water, wind, however, it can mesh with indigenous wildlife say, your
neighbors crops for instance.
In
a lot of cases that’s actually what happened. Farmers discovered weedkiller was
ineffective against some flora on their property. In some cases when they
reported this foreign offender, Monsanto sued
them and sometimes even won! If
that isn’t sickeningly incredulous I don’t know what it is.
What’s
worse is all this was made possible by Monsanto getting just the right people,
in just the right offices, to sign just the right things, in order to get these
GMOs to market against the general consensus of the scientific community they
needed decades more research.
But
fear not. With daily advances in bioengineering it’s possible to defeat evil corporation’s
creations, we just have to keep trying, and scientists are. It’s actually the
next point I’d like to bring up, we have biochemistry, and genetics, what about
engineering? Turns out, living organism share more in common with a computer
program then we thought.
Editing the Code: Cut
& Paste, Bioengineering Style
The
easiest way to think of Bioengineering is like Synthetic Biology. You’re
reading each chromosome and genome like a piece of code in a script. When the
whole code line comes together you have a program that can be uploaded into a
piece of hardware, like a computer, or in the case of bioengineering, a cell.
That’s
exactly what students in the U.K. taking part in the IGEM (International
Genetically Engineered Machine) program are doing. By using cells that exhibit
certain behaviors and perform specific tasks are being targeted for further
applications. By taking a section of the cell’s DNA out and splicing in another
strand with totally different properties, with all hopes an intended new
bacteria is created that performs a new
function, but in most cases retains the original shape and properties of the
original cell.
Let
me give you an example.
In
a documentary, students are trying to splice a strand of DNA into a cell that
will make this bacteria, that is produced within the human body, detect harmful
parasites in water supplies. In theory, the way this bacteria will function is
when it comes in contact with contaminated water, an enzyme in the cells will
cause the water to run red, the indicator that the parasite is present.
This
is a great concept on paper. Even in our modern day and age poorly filtered
water supplies are still bastions of disease and sickness. By using these
bacteria one would be able to detect possibly life threatening conditions.
There’s just one problem. In places where contaminated water is a concern and a
threat clean water sources may not be a solution. At the end of the day the
locals could be left with nothing but red water lakes and empty buckets. This
doesn’t clean up the parasitic infestation.
Furthermore
what happens to the bacteria after it detects or doesn’t detect contaminants in
the water? Does it continue living on a reproducing in the wild? If so, what
long term repercussions is this going to have on the environment? Don’t worry,
these guys aren’t Monsanto, they thought it through. A killswitch so to speak
was installed in their bacteria, so after detection the organism consumes
itself, effectively stopping it from reproducing in the wild.
Also,
the parasite the students are testing for needs certain conditions to survive.
According to them if the gathered water is left to sit for 24 hrs the parasites
will die and the water will be drinkable. The bacteria indicator is just meant
to be a warning that one should wait before consumption.
The
end result is that these bacteria didn’t quite take off and died in petri. The
concept shouldn’t be thrown away however. Some of our greatest innovations in
science were by accidents and experimentation. I think anyone who’s ever had an
itch that required Penicillin would agree.
-
Ryan
Sanders
From “Mother
Goose and Grimm” by the gut bustingly funny “Mike Peters”
For further reading on the wonderful
world of genetics, biochemistry, genomics, and Monsanto, follow any of the
links below. As always, thanks for reading and happy learning!
