Happy DNA Day! Today is the 20th anniversary of the successful completion of the Human Genome Project and the 70th anniversary of the discovery of DNA’s double helix in 1953. 🧬 Learn more about DNA from genome_gov:
Deoxyribonucleic acid is the chemical compound that contains the instructions needed to develop and direct the activities of nearly all living organisms. DNA molecules are made of two twisting, paired strands, often referred to as a double helix
Located on 23 pairs of chromosomes packed into the nucleus of a human cell, genes direct the production of proteins with the assistance of enzymes and messenger molecules. Specifically, an enzyme copies the information in a gene's DNA into a molecule called messenger ribonucleic acid .
Proteins make up body structures like organs and tissue, as well as control chemical reactions and carry signals between cells. If a cell's DNA is mutated, an abnormal protein may be produced, which can disrupt the body's usual processes and lead to a disease such as cancer.Sequencing simply means determining the exact order of the bases in a strand of DNA.
In the most common type of sequencing used today, called sequencing by synthesis, DNA polymerase is used to generate a new strand of DNA from a strand of interest. In the sequencing reaction, the enzyme incorporates into the new DNA strand individual nucleotides that have been chemically tagged with a fluorescent label. As this happens, the nucleotide is excited by a light source, and a fluorescent signal is emitted and detected.
The Human Genome Project was designed to generate a resource that could be used for a broad range of biomedical studies. One such use is to look for the genetic variations that increase risk of specific diseases, such as cancer, or to look for the type of genetic mutations frequently seen in cancerous cells. More research can then be done to fully understand how the genome functions and to discover the genetic basis for health and disease.
It is important to realize, however, that it often takes considerable time, effort, and funding to move discoveries from the scientific laboratory into the medical clinic. Most new drugs based on genome-based research are estimated to be at least 10 to 15 years away, though recent genome-driven efforts in lipid-lowering therapy have considerably shortened that interval.
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