To be honest, Chapter 3 was quite confusing and complicating because there was a lot of information to grasp in a few pages, yet this chapter was extraordinary because it explained how DNA influences every human and creature life. At first when Shubin explained that every cell in our body has the same DNA, I was surprised and confused because the cells in our muscle, skin, and eye are all different, yet have the same DNA. But then of course Shubin came to the rescue and explained everything clearly to me, he said "The answer lies in understanding in what pieces of DNA (the genes) are actually turned on in every cell. A skin cell is different from a neuron because different genes are active in each cell" (pg.45). For our body to develop, our genes need to turn on and off so that we can evolve from a cell to a human. This explains that the DNA in every body is the same but it just depends on when the genes in each cell are stimulated and decide to do their job of growth and development. I find it funny how genes turn on and off just like a computer or any other technological device is turned on and off. haha.
As Courtney mentioned it was fascinating to find out that misplacing a tissue can develop a duplicate set of digits which happened with the chick! woah! That's really creepy and scary because how about if that happened to any one of us, we would like aliens! haha. This really demonstrates that scientists jobs are very difficult and they have to be careful in every single step they make when handling humans and creatures. Because if they are not careful our whole body can be ruined. I'm really thankful that scientists found a way to stop this so that we would be born with out abnormalities. And the solution to this was the ZPA which caused the pinky side to be completely different from the thumb side. This method was tested by placing a piece of foil which acted as a wall so that no molecule would be able to escape from the ZPA to the other side. And then the Sonic hedgehog gene was found which is similar to the ZPA in making the fingers on one side different from the other.
Another interesting experiment was Randy's who wanted to make the rods of a skate look different from each other. He used protein from a mouse Sonic hedgehog and placed it in between the rods. This method seems really crazy but it actually worked! Because "all appendages, whether they are fins or limbs, are built by similar kinds of genes" (pg. 58). No matter what kind of creature we are, we are all related somehow through "ancient genes" which were developed a very long time ago but still are special and extraordinary to our lives and influence us each day.
-Sasha Kapoor :)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment