In a ground breaking research organized by United States National Human Genome Research Institute the scientists are on the verge of start rethinking everything about the genes and their behavior. The research conducted with 35 groups from 80 organizations around the World concluded with the speculation that the human genome might not be a tidy collection of independent genes at all, with each sequence of DNA linked with a single function, such as heart disease or as a predilection to diabetes etc. Instead genes appear to operate in a complex network and interact and overlap with one another and with other components in a not completely understood way.
The human genome project was one of the most exciting and challenging part of modern science. But according to the institute, after this research, scientists from all over the World may need to start rethinking everything afresh. These findings will certainly challenge scientists’ long held views about the genes and how they behave.
The network effect of genes is not a new one in the world of biology. Biologists have been noticing this interesting fact from quite a log time in other organisms. They were linked with some other creatures; so our human world carefully avoided them.
The genes operate individually, this is the most fundamental belief in the field of genetics. This presumption has been established since 1976 with the establishment of the first biotech company. Now this experiment may have an effect of nullifying the previous factor and it is a possibility that everything may need to be started afresh.
The fundamental principle of molecular biology says that each gene in living organisms, from human to bacteria, carries the information needed to construct one single protein. Proteins are the driver of the cells, and finally the organism. In 1960s, scientists discovered that a gene producing one type of protein in one organism will produce a similar protein in some other organism. This similarity has made insulin acquired from pigs as a life saving treatment for diabetes.
In the year 2005 a study showed that more than 4000 human genes have been patented in US alone, and this is a very less fractional amount of the entire amount of patents issued to genes found in other organisms. In light of the recent research, the defensibility of those patents is under fire.
Scholars all over the world have come out with their comments about this matter. According to some, the biotech industry has adopted a pre-matured commercial agenda in the very beginning of a particular field. It is possible that what we have known long might be incomplete or erroneous.
With the recent research and its result, the biotech industry may have to start experimenting with the more vivid reaction of their products.
Whatever be the solution, the World needs to choose the right alternative among many of them available. According to Prof. Heinemann, a professor of molecular biology in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand and director of its Center for Integrated Research in Biosafety, many companies have already carried a kind of gene profile research. But they are not required to submit them to regulatory bodies, so they do not submit. For this action research on this particular field is still in a stagnant position.
He further said:
Something that is front and center in the biosafety community in New Zealand now is whether companies should be required to submit their gene-profiling data for hazard identification. With no such reporting requirements, companies and regulators alike will continue to blind themselves to network effects.
Source: NYTimes
Image Source: Genome
