‘Junk’ Deoxyribonucleic acid
The human genome contains a staggering twenty two thousand separate genes which where first sequenced in 2000. Our genetic structure is comprised of over 3 Billion base pairs of genes that line up and come together forming the 22,000 genes that make up our being. Thats just 2% of the entire human genome which is in contrast to the other 98% which has been considered inactive and useless. Well recent research from The ENCODE project ( The Encyclopaedia of DNA Elements) has in the words of Time magazine been revealed as a ‘buzzing universe of bio chemical activity’. Scientists believe that this will allow us to understand the genetic basis of human disease this discovery has completely opened up gene based research to new possibilities. For example the non gene portion of the human genome is comprised of a highly active live wire that hosts 4 million constantly active switches or cross talking DNA. This has as mentioned before huge repercussions in the search for knowledge of the roots of disease I find this fascinating it could possibly provide a way of reverse engineering disease In the future medicine will be matched to the patient genetically, your ailment will be matched much more closely and with a greater accuracy and speed to the correct treatment. Just imagine the implications of this combined with the ideas floating around in the world of Nano technology such as the delivery of drugs to specific cells in the treatment of cancer and various types of tumours.
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