All about DNA
UNLOCKING THE SECRETS OF OUR GENETIC CODE WILL MAKE US MASTERS OF OUR OWN BIOLOGY
Explore the history, chemistry and the future technologies of DNA science that could allow us to master our biology
DNA is one of the greatest inventions of the natural world. It’s a chemical library, capable of storing vast quantities of data for billions of years. Passed from one generation to the next, this microscopic structure is the engine of evolution. Every living creature uses DNA as its instruction manual. The genes contained within it tell cells how to make the proteins they need to survive, grow and reproduce. DNA also records history, tracing the path evolution has taken to create the plants and animals we see today. Unlocking the secrets of DNA not only allows us to read our own life story, it also gives us the ability to predict – and even change – the future. DNA is a treasure trove of information that we’re only just beginning to explore. Scientists didn’t even know it existed until the late 1800s, and it wasn’t until the 1950s that they really started to understand how it worked. In the 1970s, scientists finally developed a technique that allowed them to read the letters of the genetic code. Suddenly it was possible to look inside our own instruction manual and see how humans are made. It took over ten years to complete the first map of the human genome, and the results that came out of it were a huge surprise. Scientists had predicted that it would take as many as 100,000 genes to build and maintain a human body. But the Human Genome Project revealed that we have less than a quarter of that number. Even rice plants have more genes than we do. Today’s gene sequencing technology is so advanced that machines can read off an entire human genome in a matter of hours. There are millions of individual sequences now on public record, allowing researchers to investigate the tiny genetic differences that make us who we are. These differences are the key to understanding everything from our family history and our physical features to our risk of developing diseases. At the moment our understanding of DNA is still in its infancy, but we are standing on the precipice of a genetic revolution. Tracing our biology back to the level of our DNA will one day make it possible to customise our genetic code and even cure genetic diseases. But before we reach that point, we need to work out what every letter of that code is for. The link between some genes and the traits they control is simple and clear, but for most the relationship is complex. With so few genes in the human genome, it is inevitable that many have more than one role to play in building a body. Genes work together in complex and interconnected networks to shape the people that we become. To complicate matters further, genes make up only around one or two per cent of the human genome. The rest of our genetic code controls how, when and why we use our genes. How that works is mostly a mystery. Understanding gene networks – and learning to edit them – is the next step on the path to becoming masters of our own biology.
“DNA is a treasure trove of information that we’re only just beginning to explore”