genetic engineering in dna and genes which mutated the body cells and change human into mutant extraordinary ablilties
212941
perhaps you should work on being bitten by a radioactive porcupine.
109139
Great stuff going on right now having to do with developmental genes (like Hox genes).  You may know this as "Evo Devo" or evolutionary developmental biology.\n\nCheck out the book "Endless Forms Most Beautiful," by Sean Carroll.  He also gives ideas for research and new fields, lots of peer-reviewed papers.\n\nI just read it this Fall, it was great.
86296
Theoretically yes, if you can get the full DNA structure. Realistically, science isn't quite there yet. I suspect there is much being done in secret because of public fear of the unknown. We've done sheep, and parts of humans, ears, noses etc. Won't be long. The big question is if you clone the whole person, who is really that person and does the clone have a soul? That's a whole other discussion!
42537
Genetic Mutations\n\nIn biology, mutations are changes to the genetic material (usually DNA or RNA). Mutations can be caused by copying errors in the genetic material during cell division and by exposure to radiation, chemicals, or viruses, or can occur deliberately under cellular control during the processes such as meiosis or hypermutation. In multicellular organisms, mutations can be subdivided into germline mutations, which can be passed on to progeny and somatic mutations, which cannot be transmitted to progeny. Mutations, when accidental, often lead to the malfunction or death of a cell and can cause cancer. Mutations are considered the driving force of evolution, where less favorable (or deleterious) mutations are removed from the gene pool by natural selection, while more favorable (beneficial or advantageous) ones tend to accumulate. Neutral mutations are defined as mutations whose effects do not influence the fitness of either the species or the individuals who make up the species. These can accumulate over time. Contrary to tales of science fiction, the overwhelming majority of mutations have no significant effect, since DNA repair is able to revert most changes before they become permanent mutations, and many organisms have mechanisms for eliminating otherwise permanently mutated somatic cells.
494693
Alterations to DNA are called mutations, and they can result in the formation of new characteristics that are heritable, or capable of being inherited.\n\nEvery cell in the body of every living organism contains DNA in threadlike structures called chromosomes. Stretches of DNA that hold coded instructions for the manufacture of specific proteins are known as genes, of which the human race has approximately 40,000 varieties. If the DNA of a particular gene is altered, that gene may become defective, and the protein for which it codes also may be missing or defective. Just one missing or abnormal protein can have an enormous effect on the entire body: albinism, for instance, is the result of one missing protein.\n\nMutations also can be errors in all or part of a chromosome. Humans normally have 23 pairs of chromosomes, and an extra chromosome can have a tremendous negative impact. For example, there should be two of chromosome 21, as with all other chromosomes, but if there are three, the result is Down syndrome. People with Down syndrome have a unique physical appearance and are developmentally disabled. Nor is an extra chromosome the only chromosomal abnormality that causes problems: if chromosomes 9 and 22 exchange materials, a phenomenon known as translocation, the result can be a certain type of leukemia. Down syndrome also results from translocation.\n\nGerminal mutations are those that occur in the egg or sperm cells and therefore can be passed on to the organism's offspring. Somatic mutations are those that happen in cells other than the sex cells, and they cannot be transmitted to the next generation. This is an important distinction to keep in mind in terms of both the causes and the effects of mutation. If only the somatic cells of the organism are affected, the mutation will not appear in the next generation; on the other hand, if a germinal mutation is involved, what was once an abnormality may become so common in certain populations that it emerges as the norm.\nEvery single human trait—blue eyes, red hair, cystic fibrosis, a second toe longer than the big toe, and so on—is the result of some genetic mutation somewhere back down the line. Traits that are shared by all people must have arisen long ago, while other traits occur only in certain populations of people. Traits may be as innocuous as eye color or hair texture or as grave as a shared tendency toward a particular disease. Cystic fibrosis, for instance, is most common in people of northern European descent, while sickle cell anemia (see Amino Acids) occurs frequently in those of African and Mediterranean ancestry. A fatal disorder known as Tay-Sachs is found primarily in Jewish people whose ancestors came from Eastern Europe. In many cases, the particular mutation, while harmful in one regard, proved to be a useful one for that population. We know, for example, that while two copies of the mutant sickle cell anemia gene cause illness, one copy confers resistance to malaria—a very useful trait to people living in the tropics, where malaria is common.\n\nThe Pima "fat-Storage Mutation."\n\nResearchers have noted a high incidence of obesity among the Pima, a Native American tribe whose ancestral homeland is along the Gila and Salt rivers in Arizona. The Pima tend to eat a diet that is no more fatty than that of the average American—which, of course, means that it is plenty fatty, complete with chips, bologna, ice cream, and all the other high-calorie, low-nutrient foods that most Americans consume. But whereas the average American is over-weight, the average Pima is more dramatically so. This suggests that long ago, when the ancestors of the Pima had to face repeated periods of famine in the dry lands of the American Southwest, survival favored the individual or individuals who had a mutation for fat storage. It so happens that today, there is more than enough food at the local supermarket, but by now the Pima as a group has the fat-stora
554039
Finding out the function of each gene is a complex procedure. But once a gene is identified and singled out, silencing it by means of RNA interference is a great way to find out how it works, yes.\n\nI just wanted to add some comments.\nThere is some confusion with respect to what knowing the entire genome can and cannot do. \nA gene is defined as a portion of DNA that codes for a protein.\nHowever, differences during the translation from DNA to protein can result in different proteins with quite different properties. In the past, when genes were first discovered and studied, it was believed that each gene coded for a protein, and each protein determined a character. Many people still believe that there is a "blue eye gene" or a "intelligence gene". This is not so. \nWith some exceptions, each character that we perceive as such (for instance, curly hair, large flowers) is the result of the interaction of several alleles (the "versions" of each gene that we carry), as well as other processes and phenomena that occur between the translation of a protein and the full development of a living being (called epigenetic factors). \n\nThat being said, RNA interference is a great tool to learn more about the effects of specific genes, yes. Hopefully people will understand that in the case of complex systems such as living beings, and humans specifically, the separate study of each part is not enough to understand the whole.
591979
Biology has catalogued many traits produced by point mutations (changes at precise positions in an organism’s DNA)—bacterial resistance to antibiotics, for example. Mutations that arise in the homeobox (Hox) family of development-regulating genes in animals can also have complex effects. Hox genes direct where legs, wings, antennae and body segments should grow. In fruit flies, for instance, the mutation called Antennapedia causes legs to sprout where antennae should grow. These abnormal limbs are not functional, but their existence demonstrates that genetic mistakes can produce complex structures, which natural selection can then test for possible uses. Moreover, molecular biology has discovered mechanisms for genetic change that go beyond point mutations, and these expand the ways in which new traits can appear. Functional modules within genes can be spliced together in novel ways. Whole genes can be accidentally\nduplicated in an organism’s DNA, and the duplicates are free to mutate into genes for new, complex features. Comparisons of the DNA from a wide variety of organisms indicate that this is how the globin family of blood proteins evolved over millions of years. 11. Natural selection might explain microevolution, but it cannot explain the origin of new species and higher orders of life. Evolutionary biologists have written extensively about how natural selection could produce new species. For instance, in the model called allopatry, developed by Erns Mayr of Harvard University, if a population of organisms were isolated from the rest of its species by geographical boundaries, it might be subjected to different selective pressures. Changes would accumulate in the isolated population. If those changes became so significant that the splinter group could not or routinely would not breed with the original stock, then the splinter group would be reproductively isolated and on its way toward becoming a new species.\nNatural selection is the best studied of the evolutionary mechanisms, but biologists are open to other possibilities as well. Biologists are constantly assessing the potential of unusual genetic mechanisms for causing speciation or for producing complex features in organisms. Lynn Margulis of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and others have persuasively argued that some cellular organelles, such as the energy-generating mitochondria, evolved through the symbiotic merger of ancient organisms. Thus, science welcomes the possibility of evolution resulting from forces beyond natural selection. Yet those forces must be natural; they cannot be attributed to the actions of mysterious creative intelligences whose existence, in scientific terms, is unproved.
216999
Genetics and evolution.
621527
the definition of biotechnology is " the creation of useful products to make money" basically but it really is more than that.  It is a wonderful field that, if allowed to progress, is going to change the world in so many ways! Paralyzed people will walk again by research in stem cell use,  organ donors will no longer be neccessary by research in cloning human organs,  we have insulin through microbial cultivation....there's so much we can do! Clean up oil spills with microbes,  mapping the entire genetic code will help cure diseases, gene therapy....I could go on forever!
114071
UPDATE: I've just read your comment so I'm leaving the difficult stuff below. \nFirst things first:\nProbably you know (but it's worth repeating) that the genetic information in each cell is kept as DNA. This DNA is able to copy parts of itself as RNA. RNA in turn builds proteins. Our bodies are not made only of proteins, but proteins are the ultimate regulators of what our body looks like and how it works. So, if a gene in your DNA synthesizes a specific RNA, and this in turn can make a particular protein, this protein will have to do with the way you look and function. Another person with a somewhat different "variety" of the same gene, will have a different appearance and/or function. Each gene codes for one protein, so it takes a really large amount of genes to code for all of them (and this is VERY simplified, the interactions are much more complex).\n\nNow for the second part: the fact that you have several really long DNA strands in each cell (these DNA strands are what can be visualized as chromosomes under special circumstances) does not mean that every single little gene in your DNA will generate RNA and ultimately produce a protein. Only a part of the DNA is actually active (and it's a small proportion), the rest is just "there" and doesn't code. And the expression of the gene (=when the gene's information becomes visible) depends on the interaction with other genes, with other substances that are cellular regulators, and many environmental factors. \n\nExample: you know Siamese cats? they have a genetic constitution such that the dark color proteins are formed especially at the body parts that are colder. So usually you get a sand-colored cat with black legs, tail, and ears. But for this pattern to show, there has to be interaction with the right temperatures. If the cat is not exposed to these colder temperatures, the dark parts don't develop. Or maybe other proteins or regulators "got in the way" of the process. And you get a cat with no dark parts (or the opposite, a very dark animal from excess cold). \nAnother example: suppose a baby is born from tall parents; they in turn had tall parents, so it's highly probable that the baby has the "tall" potential. But if this baby is not well nourished during his/her development, he/she will not reach the height that he "potentially should" have had. \nCan you see the difference? The genotype is ALL the genetic information that you have, and the phenotype is the result of the combination of this genetic information with other factors: the person/animal/plant as it is realized. \nI hope this helps you, I'll be around :-)\n\nCheck this site, it's great:\nhttp://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/evo101/IIIA1Genotypevsphenotype.shtml\n-------------------------------\nThe genotype is the genetic information that the said individual carries in each of his/her body cells. Much of that information is never expressed (=becomes "visible" or translates into actual characteristics), and much genetic information can yield different characteristics depending on the interaction with many environmental factors (which occur both inside and outside the cell or organism in question). Thus, the final fully developed individual is the result of the genotype ("raw" genetic information) PLUS environmental/developmental factors; the characteristics of this final product, the real individual, constitute the Phenotype. \nFor instance, an individual with a perfectly "normal" genotype may develop many types of abnormalities due to problems during pregnancy, including drugs, lack of oxygen, etc. Identical twins have the same genotype (they come from a single cell) but are never completely identical; and of course they have different personalities. This is because of all the epigenetic phenomena that influence development. And it's also the reason why reductionist approaches that s
56640
Genetic engineering, genetic modification (GM), and the now-deprecated gene splicing are terms for the process of manipulating genes, usually outside the organism's normal reproductive process.\n\nIt often involves the isolation, manipulation and reintroduction of DNA into cells or model organisms, usually to express a protein. The aim is to introduce new characteristics such as making a crop resistant to a herbicide, introducing a novel trait, or producing a new protein or enzyme. Examples include the production of human insulin through the use of modified bacteria, the production of erythropoietin in Chinese Hamster Ovary cells, and the production of new types of experimental mice such as the OncoMouse (cancer mouse) for research, through genetic redesign.\n\nSince a protein is specified by a segment of DNA called a gene, future versions of that protein can be modified by changing the gene's underlying DNA. One way to do this is to isolate the piece of DNA containing the gene, precisely cut the gene out, and then reintroduce (splice) the gene into a different DNA segment. Daniel Nathans and Hamilton Smith received the 1978 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for their isolation of restriction endonucleases, which are able to cut DNA at specific sites. Together with ligase, which can join fragments of DNA together, restriction enzymes formed the initial basis of recombinant DNA technology.
579911
GM- genetically modified\n\nthese plants have their genes altered and there are many possible mutations that can occur.  also, not much research has been done on the long term effects GM food has on our body.  Why do you think Zimbabwe and Angola rejected our maize offer? because they felt that they were the guniea pigs.  anyway, if you look at how a gene is inserted into a plant using the recombinant DNA method, it is actually very dangerous and unstable.  Scientists are making use of bacteria' plasmids to act as a truck to insert the gene.  Although viral causing genes are removed, what makes scientists so sure that they wouldn't remain, mutate and form a super bug?\n\nAlso, there are religious ethics violated, e.g. some people believe we shouldn't play God and Muslims, they cannot eat pork.  What if the pork gene was inserted into maize? and they eat the maize??? also, some people might be allergic to peanuts, if the peanut gene were to be inserted into a crop, and starts expressing itself, would the person die?
185755
Generally the idea is that the DNA does not necessarily have to be introduced into every cell of the human body to cure a disease because not every cell in the body may be affected by the disease. \n\nCurrently the main idea is using viruses which are made harmless to humans. Viruses can insert DNA into their host. They can infect either only a certain cell type or a wide variety. \n\nRead up more detail about viruses used and non-viral options using the link provided or do further research using a search engine. \n\nIf it is a genetically inheritable disease I assume that the best option is if there is a very high risk for the children to have a genetic disease they would try to manipulate the DNA in a fertilized egg, so probably techniques from in-vitro fertilization would be used. Don't know if that works yet, but I am sure there is a website out there which explains that.
461045
A germ cell mutation can be passed on to future generations, a somatic cell mutation may affect the individual, but is not passed on to its children.
488790
a. Selective gene expression.\nAll diploid cells in an organism have the same genome. Specific genes are turned on or off by environmental conditions, such as hormone levels, chemicals introduced, the action and metabolites of surrounding cells. A stem cell will differentiate into a specific cell based on specific conditions. \nRemember that a human baby with many different cells is made from on cell, the fertilized egg.
533962
Molecular Biology of the Cell
116580
I think a great deal more needs to be done in animal cloning before humans get involved. Besides the ethical issues, there are real physiological difficulties that seem to erupt in cloned organisms. It seems that having two sets of genetic material really is important.