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 > Mendel, The Father of Genetics > Fifty Years of Research > Genetically Modified Foods
dijous, 6 de març de 2003
On February 28, 1953 –exactly fifty years ago– while lunching with colleagues from the University of Cambridge, a pair of scientists announced that they had discovered nothing less than the secret of life. James D. Watson and Francis Crick had uncovered the chemical structure of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid).
Even though no one took the matter too seriously at the time, the truth was that this discovery allowed for enormous progress in many fields: medicine, biology, the origins of the human species and of life in this universe, and countless others. This is because DNA, which is found in the nucleus of all cells, contains the genetic coding of each person. In other words, DNA is what makes us different from one another. This groundbreaking insight into the 'archive of life' should revolutionize cancer and heart disease treatments, to cite only a couple possibilities. However, other related developments, such as cloning, manipulating the human genome, and the possibilities for new biological warfare have opened up a veritable Pandora's box of ethical issues Winners of the 1962 Nobel Prize in Medicine, both Watson and Crick continue their research efforts fifty years after their initial discovery.
 
Mendel, The Father of Genetics)
+ Gregor Johann Mendel, the father of genetics.
Genetics is the science concerned with the phenomena of heredity in living beings. Genetic research today has come a long way since a couple centuries ago when hardly anything was known. The first person to undertake serious investigation was Johan Gregor Mendel, an Augustinian monk who later became the Abbot of the Brünn monastery (in what is now the Czech Republic). Mendel conducted an extensive series of experiments with peas and beans in the monastery garden, deriving a set of laws that today bear his name.
Fifty Years of Research
+ Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to be cloned.
Watson and Crick's discovery of DNA in 1953 led to a whole series of genetic developments, which, in turn, have yielded numerous practical applications. The first gene was isolated in 1969. Fifteen years later, DNA studies began to be used in the field of law, enabling the identification of guilty parties, the exoneration of innocents, and paternity testing. In 1995, the first genome for a free-living organism was sequenced (that of a bacteria, to be precise). The next year brought in the birth of Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to be cloned. And finally in 2000, a great landmark was reached when the human genome map was decoded. No one doubts that all these advances offer great benefits for the future, but certain questions must be confronted. The ethical debate over the limits of science has only just begun.
Genetically Modified Foods
+ Transgenic food contains genetically modified organisms.
As we have seen, many genetic developments have already been put into practice. One of the biggest controversies involves transgenic food, which are those containing genetically modified organisms. Such food is obtained by introducing the genetic material from one species (usually bacteria that are harmless to the higher species) into another, using genetic manipulation techniques. The objective is to improve the properties of these foods, making them more resistant to herbicides, insect plagues, disease, frost and drought, while simultaneously boosting their nutritional value and size. And of course, it's not an entirely rosy picture. Application of such techniques also involves certain risks in that they can cause imbalance within the ecosystem and the emergence of unknown diseases as well as numerous other problems.
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Investiga
> Quins són els riscos de consumir aliments transgènics? Te'n podràs assabentar fent un clic aquí.
> De ben segur que n'has sentit a parlar, però, saps exactament en què consisteix l'enginyeria genètica? Esbrina-ho en aquesta pàgina.
> Ara fa dos anys es va desxifrar el genoma humà, fet que de ben segur comportarà riscos i beneficis en un futur no molt llunyà. Llegeix aquest article i et podràs assabentar d'uns i altres.
> Saps què és un cromosoma? I el número de cromosomes que té l'espècie humana, que el saps? Les respostes són aquí.
I també...
- El físic britànic Robert Hooke va ésser el primer en observar una cèl·lula. Saps perquè li va donar aquest nom? Trobaràs la resposta en aquesta web.
- En la tècnica de la clonació, quin paper hi té l'ADN? La resposta, en aquesta adreça electrònica.
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