1. Issues in Genetics
Biology 30

2. Why Study Genetics?
Production of disease and weather resistant strains of crop that provide more energy to a starving world.
Creation of special genetically engineered strains of bacteria and fungi that carry specific genes from unrelated organisms such as humans. The microbes produce such useful compounds as insulin and human growth hormone.
We can diagnose hereditary disease before or soon after birth, and in some cases provide secondary treatments.
Using family pedigrees, a genetic councilor can give parents the information they need to make intelligent decisions about the risks of genetic disease in their offspring.

3. Issues in Genetics
An estimated 5 percent of our population survive with severe physical or mental genetic defects. This percentage will probably increase with extended exposure to various environmental factors. As geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky has remarked:
If we enable the weak and the deformed to live and propagate their kind, we face the prospect of genetic twilight. But if we let them die or suffer when we can save or help them, we face the certainty of a moral twilight.
Prader-Willi Syndrome

4. Issues in Genetics
Of those patients admitted to pediatric hospitals in North America, 30 percent are estimated to have diseases that can be traced to genetic causes. The financial burden to society is already significant. Are we prepared to shoulder this genetic burden? How much money are we willing to spend to keep the genetically handicapped alive and to enable them to lead as normal a life as possible?

5. Issues in Genetics
The human brain is subject to the same rules of genetic determination as the rest of the body. Does this mean that our thoughts and behaviors are extensively determined by inherited predispositions? Or can we view the mind as a clean slate at birth, written on only by individual experience?

6. Issues in Genetics
What impact will genetics have on thoughts and personality and the implications for present sociological problems?
Charles Manson – Serial Killer

7. Issues in Genetics
As overpopulation becomes obvious to almost everyone, there is increased talk of legislated sterilization and the planned selection of human offspring. There is very serious talk, even among some geneticists, about the ability of the human race to take control of its own evolution. Others are frightened by the possibilities for disastrous error or unacceptable sociological consequences.

8. Issues in Genetics
As we move beyond conventional breeding techniques to the ability to make specific chemical and molecular modifications in the genetic makeup other concerns arise. In some cases genetic material is added that is completely new to the species being modified. While some scientists emphasize the promised benefits of such research, others raise disturbing questions about possible dangers. Could there be an artificial pathogen that has never existed on this planet before? Some geneticists fear that increased exposure to chemical food additives and to the vast array of chemicals in other commercial products may be changes the human genetic makeup in a very undesirable way.

9. Genetic Issues
If diagnosed, will there be bias towards to with genetic predisposition to various disorders by employers or insurers?

10. Genetic Terminology
Genetics – study of the inheritance of biological traits
Heredity – passing of traits from parents to offspring, through the use of genes.
Acquired Characteristics – developed based on the environment you live in. (Environmental dependent)

11. Genetic Terminology Chromosomes Genes Alleles
Produced from long strands of DNA
Long string of genes
Ex. Chromosomes 1-22 and the X,Y
Genes
Sections of a chromosome
Represented by a pair of letters designating a particular spot (loci) on a homologous pair of chromosomes
Units of instruction
Ex. Eye color
Alleles
Alternate forms of a particular gene
Have the same position of a pair of homologous chromosomes
Ex. Blue, Brown, or Green eye color

12. Genetic Terminology

13. Genetic Terminology Genotype Phenotype
The genes found in a particular individual
Represented by two letters
Homozygous (Pure bred) – both alleles for a trait are the same (RR or rr)
Heterozygous (Hybrid) – members of an allelic pair are different (Rr)
Phenotype
Physical or observable characteristic of an individual
Results of the interaction between the genotype and the environment

14. Genetic Terminology Karyotype
Picture of chromosomes arranged in homologous pairs
Obtain cell (amniocentesis, CVS)
Chemically stop cell division
Select cell going through metaphase
Stain chromosomes
Arrange in homologous pairs
Karyotyping Lab

15. Genetic Terminology Genome
The complete set of genes contained within the set of DNA of an individual