New

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• New Allied Areas

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In this presentation

• Part 1 New Technologies
• Part 2 DNA Fingerprinting
• Part 3 Stem Cell Research
• Part 4 Cloning
• Part 5 Paleontonomics
• Part 6 Other Areas

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Part1
New Technologies
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RNA treatment

• It will target only a affected DNA unlike the
  conventional chemotherapy or radiotherapy which
  destroys cancerous as well as normal cells
• This has been tested on a number of uterus cancer
  patients
• They can be used as suicide squad that destroys
  the genetic material which later converts into
  tumor

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Gene therapy

• Gene therapy for baldness is in focus
• Hemophilia is caused due to certain gene
  damage/disorder
• Blood coagulation/bleeding can be prevented by
  using drug Recombinant Factor 9 Coagulation, but
  is very costly and may cost as much as 100,000
• Leukemia is caused as the gene divides the cells
  into two repeatedly
• The presence of P53 and RB fractions in the same
  gene protects from spreading tumors

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Genetic disorder a case study
Father genes 226 repeats of CGG abnormal
Mother genes 16 repeats of CTG normal
Baby 1500 repeats of combination (sure death)

• Child is genetically disordered and will die in
  few weeks, even second and subsequent children
  too. Problem could be avoided by gene
  modification through a process called mitotic
  disropy or PGD

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DNA methylation process

• Used in molecular diagnostic and pharmacagenomics
  assays
• Involves measuring the differences in DNA
  methylation between diseased and healthy
  conditions
• Methylation, the phenomenon wherein a methyl
  group is attached to the cytosine base on DNA, is
  a major mechanism of control for gene expression

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siRNA Library

• Ambion and Cenix BioScience are co-developing a
  library of short interfering RNA (siRNA) for the
  entire human genome
• The companies shall update the siRNA library in
  step with human genome sequence annotations

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Cancer detection made easy

• Correlogic Systems, a Maryland bioinformatics
  company developed algorithms that can tease apart
  the differences in plasma proteins between
  healthy people and people with cancer
• With smarter software and the right set of
  markers, the company hopes diagnosing
  difficult-to-catch cancers can be possible with a
  relatively simple and painless blood test

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Part2
DNA Fingerprinting
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DNA fingerprinting

• It appears as a pattern of bands or stripes on
  X-ray film, that varies for individuals
• Only identical twins have the same DNA
  fingerprint
• A child inherits half the bands from mother and
  half from father
• In paternity testing, childs banding pattern and
  that of the mother and alleged father. Bands on
  childs fingerprint that are not from the mother
  are obviously from the real father
• First case of DNA fingerprinting was introduced
  in 1986 but first conviction based on this
  concept was in 1987

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Limitations of DNA fingerprinting

• Lot of good quality DNA is needed, sometimes not
  possible as DNA can degrade with time
• Insufficient biological evidence at the scene of
  crime
• Genome is unstable and highly sensitive to
  radiation, even in the offspring of people
  exposed to it

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Part3
Stem Cell Research
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Stem cell research

• Has been banned in many countries and many have
  remained undecided
• It is important to note that during organ
  transplant the human body immediately rejects
  organs from bodies whose DNA does not match with
  it
• Stem cells of embryo are giving clues of
  generating cells and as catalyst for evolution
• With this, it will become possible to produce
  babies and organs in lab

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Organ development thru stem cells

• Work is going on extensively to develop organs
  like heart, kidney, eye, etc.
• Researchers have worked extensively in Japan for
  development of eyes of frogs successfully
• Next target is heart and kidneys

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Stem cells for heart patients

• Stem cells from another organ can be injected
  into the heart of heart patients. Patients who
  have undergone as many as seven bye-pass
  surgeries have responded excellently
• They improve the working of the cells to which
  they are attached
• The bone marrow cells could be injected as stem
  cells into the affected heart
• The genes in bone marrow multiplies the white
  blood cells which is a good sign for patients

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Part4
Cloning
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Cloning

• The term clone was coined in 1963 by J B S
  Haldane
• Scientists get tadpoles by transfer of cell
  nuclei from adult frogs in 1975
• Sheep and cattle cloned by nuclear transfer from
  embryonic cells in 1986
• Dolly, the sheep, is the first ever clone born in
  Feb 1997, died prematurely
• Cloning can leave a number of ethical questions
  unanswered in the 21st century

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Cloning

• Scientists cloned 50 mice from a single adult
  mouse in 1998. Also cloned 8 calves from a
  single adult cow
• In 2000, pigs and goats reported cloned from
  adult cells. Britain becomes the first country to
  grant a patent for cloned early-stage human
  embryos
• 26 Dec 2002, Clonaid claims to have produced the
  first human clone, a baby girl called Eve

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Cloning process

• The process of putting nucleus taken from any
  cell of body into an embryonic/egg cell
• This is followed by a charged shock that joins
  the two (nucleus containing the genetic material
  and the nucleus in the egg)
• Thereafter, cells starts multiplying through cell
  division, by mitosis, automatically

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Types of cloning

• Human cloning aims to replicate humans. It
  requires implanting a cloned embryo into a
  womans uterus
• Therapeutic cloning aims to develop medical
  therapies. Cloned embryos are grown only up to 14
  days, long enough to harvest their stem cells,
  which may eventually prove useful in treating
  diseases including Parkinsons, leukemia and
  diabetes

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QA about human cloning

• Will my clone be an exact copy of me?
• No. It will only have the same genes, but genes
  are only one component of a persons identity.
  Environment is a big influence. Your clone may
  well have a different IQ, personality, even looks
• Are clones unnatural?
• No. Identical twins are natural clones. Many
  organisms reproduce by cloning. What is
  artificial is the process of cloning. But then so
  is test tube baby-making
• Is cloning healthy?
• No. So far, cloned animals suffer from premature
  ageing

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QA about human cloning

• Should cloning be banned?
• No. Therapeutic cloning, where single organs and
  cells are copied, could have major medical
  benefits. Reproductive cloning, where a whole
  person is copied, needs regulation. But a ban
  would only drive the technology underground
• Who opposes cloning?
• The loudest critics are conservative religious
  groups and environmentalists. Scientists are
  divided, but most oppose outright bans
• Will cloning ever become widespread?
• Probably not. Surveys show most couples prefer
  mixed genetic offspring. Megalomaniacs, once they
  realize a clone is likely to be a different
  person, may drop the idea

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Scientists feel

• The technique is not safe to be extended to
  humans
• It took 276 failed attempts before Dolly was
  successfully cloned. And even after her birth,
  she has been growing old much before her time,
  showing that when she was born she was not
  genetically year zero but as old as her donor
• So if Eve is a clone, she might be genetically 31
  years old the age of her donor and can
  therefore face shortened lifetime of suffering
  and premature aging

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Moreover,

• In most pregnancies involving clones, the clone
  has died and the life of the mother has been put
  at risk
• In many cases, the clone has grown abnormally
  large, often threatening to tear the womb
• Also, almost all clone pregnancies spontaneously
  abort. And, of the small number (less than 1 )
  of animal clones that make it to term, most have
  severe abnormalities and possibly hidden genetic
  defects
• Several cow clones had head deformities and none
  survived very long

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Cloning seems to be

• Cheap
• Easy
• Impossible to ban

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Part5
Paleontonomics
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Fossil recognition

• The mitochondrial DNA can be taken from fossils
  and it can survive even after many centuries
• But no guarantee can be given of assured
  retrieval
• Mitochondrial DNA is built with 50 percent DNA
  taken from father and remaining from the mother
• Identity of an individual cannot be established
  using DNA sequences generated from it but it can
  be said whether or not it belongs to a particular
  family

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Draft sequence for Tyrannosaurus rex genome

• The T. rex International Paleontonomics
  Experiment (TrIPE), based at Sanger Institute,
  Cambridge UK announced that it had assembled and
  deposited into public databases the genetic
  blueprint for the most important of the dinosaurs
  used in genetics today
• TrIPE used the newly developed Glycosylated
  Endonuclease Sequencing Strategy (GESS) technique
• The consortium is seeking world wide patent
  rights to the sequence of any organisms sequenced
  by the technique
• The full T. rex sequence is available at Ensembl

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Men are like mice

• 1200 new human genes have been identified by
  deciphering the DNA code of laboratory mouse
• Mice and human share the same genes for blood
  pressure, temperature regulation, bone
  manufacture, cell division, tissue growth and so
  on
• Of a sample of 700 genes so far linked to human
  disease, mice share 90 percent
• Laboratory mice are answering questions about
  HIV, obesity, osteoporosis, Downs syndrome,
  schizophrenia, diabetes, heart disease,
  Parkinsons, breast cancer, malaria and host of
  other conditions

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5 genetics types of man

• Scientists studying whole genome study of 52
  human groups around the world concluded that
  people belong to 5 principal groups corresponding
  to the geographical regions viz., Africa, Europe,
  Asia, Melanesia and the Americans

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Part6
Other Areas
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Nutrigenomics

• Up to 35 percent of cancers are related to
  dietary habits
• Life long diets high in plant foods lower cancer
  rates
• People who eat lots of fruits and vegetables are
  skinnier
• Obesity increases risks of cancers of uterus,
  gall bladder and possibly colon and prostate
• Large weight gain after reaching adulthood is
  linked to breast cancer
• Scientists in China found that people with lowest
  lung cancer risk were genetically deficient in an
  enzyme that metabolises certain nutrients in
  cruciferous vegetables

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Longevity gene?

• Mice lacking a copy of an important metabolism
  gene live to the human equivalent of a century,
  according to new research on induced longevity
• The gene encodes a protein called insulin-like
  growth factor (IGF-1)
• Mice which had been genetically changed to lack
  one copy of this gene live on average 26 percent
  longer than normal counterparts, without any
  side-effects
• One reason for this appears to lie in oxidative
  stress, an ageing and disease-causing process by
  which cells are damaged by roving molecules with
  unpaired electrons

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Proteomics

• It is the study of proteins in cells and tissues
  in the body
• Since cells are constantly responding to their
  environment, and the proteins are the workhorses
  of the cell, the proteome changes reflecting the
  life of the cell
• In future, it shall cover metabolomics,
  transcriptomics, etc. areas

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Metabolomics

• It is the study of chemicals in the body called
  metabolites
• Every human cell contains thousands of these
  chemicals and each disease leaves a different
  metabolic fingerprint
• A recent experiment at St. Georges Hospital
  Medical School, London discovered how cancer
  cells give themselves a turbo-boost to grow
  faster
• Metabolomics will help researchers design new
  drugs to attach each different disease

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Transcriptomics

• It uses gene chips to investigate what the
  thousands of genes inside cells are doing
• It involves large-scale analysis of mRNAs
  transcribed from active genes to follow when,
  where and under what conditions genes are
  expressed (mRNA carries the genetic information
  for the synthesis of specific proteins)