THE GENETICS
GENETIC
EXPERIMENTS
· Parents can choose
their child’s gender
Since the beginning of time, parents have tried to influence the sex of their babies. Geneticists working with cattle in Cambridge, UK, think they may be able to offer a reliable method of sex selection be 2002. Using a method called flow cytometry, they can enrich sperm samples with either male or female bearing sperm. A fluorescent dye is placed on the X or Y chromosome and then the sperm is sorted in a laser beam.
· Cloned animals
have medical uses
A major advance in the field of cloning occurred in 1997, when the Roslin institute near Edinburgh, Scotland, announced the birth of a sheep named Dolly the world’s first cloned animal. She was created by transferring the nucleus from an adult animal to an enucleated egg. The ‘pharming’ of cloned animals could assist in the search for cures for the pharmaceutical industry. Most people object to the idea of producing ‘carbon copies’ of genetically identical people, but cloning human tissue and organs could revolutionize medical science.
· Scientists discover
the ‘sober’ gene
A fast metabolism may not be the sole reason why some drinkers get tipsier than others. Animal tests conducted at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Wako City, Japan, have indicated that alcohol sensitivity could be influenced be genes expressed in the brain. Mice lacking a brain enzyme called Fyn kinase took twice as long as others to stand up after being injected with alcohol and placed on their backs.
GENE THERAPY
· Method for localized
gene therapy developed
Researchers at the University of Chicago, USA, have developed a technique which will allow doctors to target genes at specific parts of the body. Previously, injected therapeutic genes could not be directed to specific cells and would circulate though the whole body, possibly leading to dangerous side-effects. The new gene therapy attaches a weakened virus to a newly identified control element found in smooth muscle cells which allows it to be guided to target.
· Trials to test
treatment for AIDS
In the USA, a number of clinical trials have been approved to test gene therapy for treatments of genetic disorders such as cystic fibrosis, brain tumors and even AIDS. Results from tests into ADA deficiency a genetic disease that affects the immune system, suggest that gene therapy could be used to help patients to destroy HIV-infected cells.
· Discovery could lead
to cancer prevention
Scottish scientists have identified a single gene that protects against found in cigarette smoke. Polycyclic hydrocarbons, the chemical agents found in cigarette smoke, were tested on the skin of laboratory mice and it was discovered that those animals lacking the gene developed three times as many precancerous tumors as those with the gene.
