CONTENTS CURRENT THEMES I. ADVANCEMENTS IN HEALTH CARE A. Genetic diseases What is a genetic disease? How is the existence of a genetic disease established? What can we learn from sickle cell anemia? For genetic diseases in general, what is the relation between mutation and development of a disease? What can be done to aid families with genetic diseases? B. Gene therapy What is gene therapy? How were genetic diseases treated prior to gene therapy? What are the current applications of gene therapy? If a defective gene is corrected in an individual, why is it still passed on to his or her children? What directions are likely for future applications of gene therapy? What successes have actually been achieved by gene therapy? How are genes delivered for use in gene therapy? Why have there been so few success registered for gene therapy? C. Production of proteins for medical purposes What is the importance of artificially producing proteins? What methods are used to produce human proteins for medical purposes? What advantage is achieved when a protein such as insulin is produced by genetic engineering? Could a protein also be synthesized by a purely chemical process? What is the outlook for future activities involving protein production? D. Transplants and xenotransplants Why are transplants performed? In what instances can cells rather than organs be used for transplants? What is a xenotransplant? What occurs when a transplant is rejected? How could genetics be used to avoid the problems of rejection? What role could therapeutic cloning play in matters of transplants? II. GENETIC ENGINEERING OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS A. Genetically modified organisms What is a genetically modified organism? What is the status of genetically modified animals? What forms of genetically modified plants are currently being harvested for use by humans directly or in their food chain? Why is the production of yellow rice considered to be such an interesting example of genetically modified plants? Might genetically modified plants be harmful to human health? Could genetically modified plants be harmful for the environment? What other advantages may be achieved in the future by producing genetically modified plants? B. Cloning of large animals What is a clone? Why was the cloning of "Dolly" considered so important? What are the potential benefits from cloning? How is cloning achieved? What is the current outlook with regard to cloning? What are the expectations for therapeutic cloning? III. SEQUENCING THE HUMAN GENOME What is the Genome Project and why has it received so much attention? What are the differents phases of the Genome Project ? What strategies were adopted to sequence the genome? How difficult was the identification of genes in the DNA sequence? Have the goals for sequencing the human genome changed over the last few years? What new impacts in human health can be expected from the genome project? What new approaches in preventive medicine can be expected? What concerns do these developments raise in terms of ethical considerations and the risks of drifting towards eugenics? IV. IDENTIFICATION OF INDIVIDUALS How can genetic information be used to identify individuals? How is the DNA fingerprinting carried out? How reliable are the differences in identity that can be established by DNA? What are the current applications of DNA testing? Are any concerns raised by the application of these methods? V. UNDERSTANDING LIFE A. The origin of species What can genetics tell us about the origin of species? What has gene sequencing taught us about evolution? Can the link between genes and evolution be explained in detail? How can the formation of a new character be explained by evolution? B. Genes and behavior Are genes known in which mutations lead to a specific change in behavior? Can the relationship between genes and behavior be understood using animals? What other direct links have been established between genes and behavior? Do genetic results shed light on the issue of innate versus acquired characteristics? C. Genes and longevity Can individual genes be studied for their impact on longevity? In what ways do genes control aging? Are cells genetically programmed to age? Is aging determined by a single gene or by multiple genes? TECHNIQUES I. CLONING What is encompassed by the term "cloning"? What methods are involved in cloning? II. DNA SEQUENCING What is sequencing? What is the value of sequence information? Which organisms have been sequenced? What is the basic strategy for sequencing large organisms? How are the details of sequence determined? III. GENE TRANSFER What is gene transfer? How is isolation of a gene (step 1) achieved? What is the basis for isolating a gene by PCR? How is transfer of the isolated gene (step 2) achieved? What specific tools are used to incorporate a gene into a plasmid? What are the specific applications of gene transfer? Why is gene transfer so important? How is a gene introduced into a complex organism, such as mouse? Do the same principles apply to plants? IV. DETERMINATION OF KARYOTYPES What is a karyotpye? What information can be obtained from a karyotype? How is a karyotype obtained? BASIC SCIENCES I. FROM THE ORGANISM TO THE GENE What is the relationship between organism and gene? How do cells become specialized during development? Do all organisms operate along the same principles? What is a chromosome? What is heredity? What is DNA? How is DNA duplicated during cell division? How does the organism develop from successive cell divisions? What process produces egg and sperm? What accounts for the diversity of the various forms of life? II. GENES What is a gene? What is the structure of genes? How do genes work? Are the genes in all living organisms organized along the same principles? How are genes recognized by biologists? How many genes are present in a living organism? How similar are the genomes of different species ? What can be learned about fly genes that is useful for human genetics? III. PROTEINS What is a protein? What roles are fulfilled by proteins? How is the particular function of a protein determined by its structure? What is the basic structure of proteins? How does the genetic code convert DNA sequence into protein sequence? What is meant by calling the genetic code "universal"? What occurs that makes proteins unable to fulfill their roles when specified by a gene with a mutation? How many different proteins are needed by a complex organism? IV. GENETIC INFORMATION How is the genetic information stored and transmitted? What is the genetic code? How is transcription achieved? How is translation achieved? V. MUTATIONS What is a mutation? What are the effects of mutations? What is special about mutations on the X or Y chromosomes? What causes mutations?