The Ethical Considerations of Genetic Screening :: Science Genes Biology Papers

Ever since Watson and Crick de enactment the biological code of life, scientists have been busy unraveling the mysteries of life. A recent developing in the ara of genetic research has been the Human Genome Project (HGP). The HGP is a massive international effort to map and sequence the entire man genetic code. The primary goal of this research is to link legitimate diseases with aberrant genes that may be possessed by certain people. This would allow researchers the efficacy to bury individuals for certain diseases. This has already been a success with a consequence of conditions. PKU is a condition that causes severe retardation in children if zero point is done to prevent it, but by genetically screening the infants, doctors argon able to tell who has the disease (Davis 1990). By simply altering the fare of these children, the mental retardation effects of the disease can be prevented. In addition, diseases such as Huntingtons disease, breast cancer, and muscular dystro phy are presently being screened for in humans (Jaroff, 1996).How researchers are able to screen for genesNew developments have given researchers the ability to decipher the genetic code of organisms. Some of the techniques that researchers use are RFLP (restriction fragment length polymorphism) analysis and deoxyribonucleic acid essays. RFLP analysis utilizes enzymes from bacteria that are thought to be used as defense mechanisms against invading viral desoxyribonucleic acid. The enzymes fragment foreign DNA at specific locations depending on the base sequence (Griffiths, 1996). In order to dismember an organisms genome a researcher will add a certain restriction enzyme to DNA. This produces small restriction fragments of DNA that vary in length. Electrophoresis is then used to separate out the various fragments of DNA. This is gracious by subjecting the illogical DNA to an electrical charge after it has been displace onto an agarose gel plate. Due to differences in length, t he DNA restriction fragments will be separated in the gel plate.Another useful tool for scientists has been the DNA examine. A DNA probe is a piece of DNA that binds to certain sequences of the hosts DNA (Devore, 1998). The probe is able to do this because the DNA strand of the probe only binds to the appropriate DNA with a complementary sequence. Scientists label the probe with florescent markers or radioactive markers so that the gene of interest can be visualized. Often probes are used in conjunction with RFLP. After the organisms genome has been fragmented and electrophoresed, an absorbent membrane is placed over the gel and the DNA bands are blotted onto the membrane (this technique is called Southern Blotting).