The human genome project -view your particular genome sequence

[AltMvz]

Clearly genes, and experiences and environment form human behavior. But how much influence does your genes have on it? Here's a few paragraphs i've picked up trawling the internet. Interesting! Maybe a little intensive for some. Anyway besides that hears a question.

If you had a chance to view your particular genome sequence and it was possible to be told what ailments, physical and mental, that you, and your children are more susceptible to, would you want to know?


"It often is difficult to define the behavior in question. Intelligence is a classic example. Is intelligence the ability to solve a certain type of problem? The ability to make one's way successfully in the world? The ability to score well on an IQ test? During the late summer of 1999, a Princeton molecular biologist published the results of impressive research in which he enhanced the ability of mice to learn by inserting a gene that codes for a protein in brain cells known to be associated with memory. Because the experimental animals performed better than controls on a series of traditional tests of learning, the press dubbed this gene "the smart gene" and the "IQ gene," as if improved memory were the central, or even sole, criterion for defining intelligence. In reality, there is no universal agreement on the definition of intelligence, even among those who study it for a living."

"Clearly, genes significantly influence animal behavior."

"Such instincts that occur even in isolated animals include insect mating behavior; courtship, nesting, and brood-rearing behavior of pigeons; the songs of some (not all) birds; bird flight; and nut-cracking and nut-burying by squirrels.
Animals are born "knowing" how to do certain things. Experiments that rule out social learning and trial-and-error learning leave heredity—that is, genes—as the only logical explanation for such behaviors."

"Consider, for example, sexual orientation, an intensely heated issue in which one side argues that people are born with a hereditary predisposition to become homosexual or heterosexual, and the other side argues that homosexuals simply "choose to be that way" and could change if they wanted to, or that this behavior was caused by childhood influences and can be "corrected" by such means as psychotherapy. J. M. Bailey and R. C. Pillard studied families with two or more male siblings, at least one of whom was homosexual. In 52 percent of the cases where the brothers were monozygotic (genetically identical) twins, the other brother was also homosexual; in 22 percent of dizygotic (nonidentical) twin pairs, the second brother was homosexual; and in only 9 percent of nontwin brothers, the second brother was homosexual. The 52 percent figure shows that genes do not inevitably determine sexual orientation; if they did, this figure would be 100 percent. But the contrast between this datum and the other two does suggest that heredity significantly increases the likelihood of a given adult sexual orientation."

"Finally, there is no such thing as a gene for any behavior. There is no aggression gene, no gay gene, no gene for bird song or nut-burying. Genes encode proteins, nothing more; but through proteins, they can influence behavior. Aggression and sexual behavior, for example, are influenced by testosterone, and testosterone is synthesized by enzymes, which are proteins encoded by deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Thus one can see how genes would influence these behaviors. All behavior, furthermore, depends on chemical signals (neurotransmitters) that are released by one neuron and bind to receptors on the next neuron. Neurotransmitters, too, are synthesized by enzymes encoded by DNA, and their receptors are proteins as well. Neurotransmitter levels control mood and probably aspects of personality. The list goes on and on. Indeed, it is impossible to see how genes could not play a role in behavior."

[Kofi]

I personally don't have anything against genetics and the human genome project. Gene sequencing helps scientists learn about the past and also help predict the future. I know some Catholics and other orthodox Churches are against the human genome project but in some ways the human genome project and the sequencing of genes are very important to humanity. I personally wouldn't like anybody to sequence my genes. In Africa for example, Sickle cell anaemia is very common. The sickle cell disease is a genetic disorder and in sequencing the genome, scientists have been able to detect the mutated form of the gene responsible and have been able to develop drugs and treatments for sickle-cell patients. On the other hand, the sequencing of human genome may result in "Eugenics" or "Eugenism", a situation where some people consider themselves superior because of their desirable traits. Those with homozygous form of genes may consider themselves superior to those with heterozygous forms of the same gene and those with heterozygous may also consider themselves superior to those with the recessive forms of the same gene. This may result in discrimination and the extinction of people with undesirable forms of genes. Genes determine how a person looks but not genes alone determine the physical and mental aspect of the human person. The environmental factors together with the genome of a person produce the phenotype of the individual. Some genes are not expressed when the environmental factors are not favorable and hence it will be wrong to judge a person based on his or her genetic make-up. A gene responsible for "homosexuality" for example may not produce any physical outcome if the person grew up in "girls town". For example, a teenage boy with the gene responsible for homosexuality may not develop attraction towards other teenage boys if the boy with the gene grew up in "girls town". The boy has the gene responsible for homosexuality but since he grew up in "girls town", the gene may not be expressed and the boy may develop normally and develop attraction towards the opposite sex.