Key Purpose: The purpose of this article is to show the discoveries that have been made that will eventually be able to save peoples lives.
Key Ideas:
- Dr. Edward Marcotte was trying to create a drug that would be able to reduce and destroy tumors
- Marcotte would do this by finding genes that would inhibit the growth of blood vessels that could spread the tumor cells
- Marcotte was able to find the genes that he needed in yeast: the genes are used to repair cell walls in the fungi
- In finding that the gene was in yeast, a organism that doesn't even create blood or blood vessels, he discovered that humans have similar genes as yeast but they are organized in a different way. Therefore those genes will have different functions
- This discovery gives some evidence of a common ancestor
- Deep homology: humans have similar traits with thousands of organisms but have evolved and adapted differently over billions of years
- With further research, Marcotte found that we have deep homology with millions of organisms on Earth, even plants
After reading this article, I am really fascinated how a simple discovery could be responsible for thousands, maybe millions of more discoveries. Because we now know that genes that could cure or restrict dangerous health disease are in organisms that we can obtain, I think that in the next couple years, many of the diseases we have today will be cured. This discovery is not just restricted to helping people who are sick. I think this will be able to help all types of people with mental disabilities as well. If we can restrict cells or create cells that can stop mutations that are harmful in the womb, many people will be able to live a better life. I hope that research is put into this subject because of the expansive problems that could be solved because of it.
"The Search for Genes Leads to Unexpected Places - NYTimes.com." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. 26 Apr. 2010. Web. 27 Apr. 2010.
0 comments:
Post a Comment