The Genetic Screening Debate :: Biology Biological Genes Papers

The Genetic Screening DebateWithin the recent thirty years, researchers have found strong evidence linking genes and disease. The development of prognostic genetic tests followed shortly after the isolation of certain candidate genes. Although prophetic genetic screening is only available for a handful of diseases, its do and ramifications have become hotly debated issues in a wide hightail it of areas, from government to religion. The debate began in the 1993 when researchers isolated the BRCA1 gene, which is associated with increased risk of growing breast and ovarian cancer. The discovery of this gene led to excitement and theory of developing a predictive genetic test to identify those women at risk for these cancers. In this paper, I will first describe the biota of genetic testing, and then discuss the pros and cons of predictive genetic testing. Before we digress discussing how genetic tests are developed, let us discuss how genes can explode disease. A sound body req uires the action of some proteins working together. For a protein to function properly, an intact gene must encode for that specific protein. A transition describes a gene which has been changed. The most common type of mutation is a single change of a nucleotide of DNA. Other types of mutations take the loss or gain of a nucleotide and the disappearance or multiplication of long segments of DNA. Mutations can have three effects beneficial, harmful, or neutral. Mutations are beneficial if the fitness of an individual is enhanced. Harmful mutations can any slightly alter a protein, where the protein may still minimally function, or they may totally disable a protein. In this instance, the outcome is non only based on how a mutation alters a proteins function, but on how important the protein is to the body (Understanding Gene Testing). Since we have find how genes can trigger harmful effects in the body, we can at one time examine how scientists look for specific genes that c ause diseases. Scientists, looking for a unhealthy gene, study DNA samples in individuals where the disease has been present in the family for many generations. They look for specific genetic markers, which are DNA segments that are set in individuals with the disease, and not identified in healthy individuals. Scientists then delineate down the area of DNA by mapping a gene. If a disease gene is mapped to an area, then the genelike sequences become candidate genes for a specific disease gene.