Genetic Engineering: Reading, Writing and Editing Genes

46 Pages·2021·0.694 MB·English

by  Röbbe Wünschiers

Röbbe Wünschiers
Genetic
Engineering
Reading, Writing and Editing Genes
essentials
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Röbbe Wünschiers
Genetic Engineering
Reading, Writing and Editing Genes
RöbbeWünschiers
UniversityofAppliedSciencesMittweida
Mittweida,Germany
ISSN2197-6708 ISSN2197-6716 (electronic)
essentials
ISSN2731-3107 ISSN2731-3115 (electronic)
Springeressentials
ISBN978-3-658-32402-5 ISBN978-3-658-32403-2 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-32403-2
©SpringerFachmedienWiesbadenGmbH,partofSpringerNature2021
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essential
WhatYou Can Find inThis
(cid:129) Aninsightintowhatreadingandeditingthehumangenomemeanstous.
(cid:129) An overview about marketing genetic information and how the environment
andlifestyleareaffectingit.
(cid:129) An outlook on how the writing of genetic information is expected to revolu-
tionizebiotechnologyandhoweveryonecancontributetoit.
v
Preface
DearReader
Justasgeneticengineeringhasrevolutionizedoureverydaylifeandscienceisin
dangerofdrowningindata,theInternetisalsorevolutionizingoureverydaylife.
Actually,onecouldbeinformedabouteverything,alone,thereisnotenoughtime
andsometimesnottherightaccess.WiththisessentialIwouldliketoofferasmall
insight into the fascinating and controversial world of genetic engineering. Kant
asks:WhatcanIknow?—WhatshouldIdo?—WhatcanIhope?—Whatisman?—
Iwouldliketocontributetothefirstquestion.Thesecondquestionyoumustdecide
foryourself—andprobablyonacase-by-casebasis,becausewemustlearntothink
and argue in colors, not black and white. I hope that your thoughts on genetic
engineeringwillnotbeguidedbyideologiesandfeuds,butbyawittyweighingup
ofthebenefitsandrisks.Ialsohopethatyouwillkeepputtingyourdecisionstothe
test.Yes,Homosapiensisawiseman,butheisalsoatinkerer,onewithalarger
ecologicalfootprintthanasauropod,whichhasalsoreleasedalotofgreenhouse
gas.1
TotheContent
Thisessentialshouldserveasanintroductiontoacontemporarypublicdiscussion
ongeneticengineeringanditsapplication.2Itmaybelessessentialthananessence.
Itcontainsroughly12,200words.Anaveragereaderreads300wordsperminute.
1WilkinsonDM,NisbetEG,RuxtonGD(2012)Couldmethaneproducedbysauropoddino-
saurshavehelpeddriveMesozoicclimatewarmth?CurrBiol22:R292–R293.doi:10.1016/
j.cub.2012.03.042.
2The author is grateful that parts of his inquiries were made possible by funds from the
“InnovativeHochschule”program,sub-projectSaxony5,fundedbytheFederalMinistryof
ResearchandEducation.
vii
viii Preface
Therestisbrainjogging.Thisbookisaccompaniedbyawebsiteongene-genome-
gesellschaft.de.
WhatitisallAbout
Geneticengineeringhasreachedthepublic—notonlyintheformofproductsfrom
thepharmaceutical,foodanddetergentindustries,forexample,butalsoasapolitical
issue.Atthelatestsincetheannouncementin2018thatCRISPR/Casgeneedited
twinswereborninChinaortheannouncementin2017thattheBayerGroupacquires
the seed and crop protection company Monsanto, almost everyone is aware of at
least two applications of genetic engineering: gene therapy, in this case even in
the germline of human embryos, and the design of glyphosate-resistant Roundup
Ready® plants. The debate on genetic engineering has spread from the science
section of newspapers to the political and business sections and even to the arts
pages.Andthisisverygood.
Nevertheless, the public discussion on genetic engineering seems to me to be
sufferingfromanumberofproblems.Forexample,itisoftenbasedonoldpictures
andmethodsandisusuallyconductedinblackandwhite.Astrictdistinctionmust
alsobemadebetweenthetechnologyitself,itsapplicationanditsmarketing.Alltoo
often,theextenttowhichgeneticengineeringalreadypenetratesandwillpenetrate
oureverydaylifeisalsoneglected.Althoughgeneticengineeringisalreadydeeply
rootedinoureverydayconsumerlives,thenearfuturewillofferevenmorepersonal
contactswithgeneticengineering:ShouldIundergogenetherapy;shouldIclone
mydeceaseddog;shouldIselectmyoffspringbycarefullyselectingmyeggsor
sperm?
RöbbeWünschiers
Contents
1 Introduction ................................................... 1
2 ReadingtheGenome ........................................... 3
3 EditingtheGenome ............................................ 11
4 WritingtheGenome ............................................ 19
5 MarketingGeneticInformation ................................. 25
6 GeneticsandtheEnvironment:Epigenetics ....................... 29
7 CitizenScience ................................................. 33
Literature ........................................................ 39
ix
1
Introduction
DNA(deoxyribonucleicacid)isamacromoleculethatisbuiltfromasequenceof
buildingblocks,thenucleotides.Inthecaseofhumans,thereareabout3.2billion
nucleotides. In cells, the genetic information is divided among several chromo-
somes. Every human body cell contains two times 23 chromosomes, each from
thefatherandthemother.IftheDNAofthe46chromosomesofasinglehuman
cell were joined together to form a thread, it would be about two meters long.
The DNA of all the cells of a human being would reach from the earth to the
sunandbackaboutfourtimes. Ataround9billion km,this correspondsroughly
to the orbit of the planet Saturn around the sun. The genetic information on the
chromosomes is distributed among genes. The totality of all genes of a living
being is generally referred to as the genome or individually as the genotype. A
gene can be understood as a genetic information package that codes for a trait,
forexample,thebloodgroup.Thetotalityofalltraitsofalivingbeingmakesup
its phenotype, its appearance. For example, since there are several blood groups
(O, A, B, AB), there must be several variants of the responsible gene, which we
callalleles.Fromeachgene,wecarryonematernalandonepaternalallele.Some
traits,suchaseyecolor,involvemanygenes.Thebasisofanydiagnosticanalysis
and genetic engineering work is a deep understanding of the function of a parti-
cular section of the genome. In the early days, this was only possible in a very
rough way. So-called genetic markers were associated with phenotypic manifes-
tations such as diseases or other characteristics. These markers were initially not
nucleotidesequences(DNAsequences),butratherphysicalobservations,suchas
the fact that DNA breaks down into fragments of varying size after treatment
withaDNA-cuttingenzyme(restrictionenzyme).Thesizeanddistributionofthe
fragments could be measured and correlated with traits. Today, we can read the
entire genetic material (the genome) of a living being, from bacteria to humans
(seeChap.2).
©SpringerFachmedienWiesbadenGmbH,partofSpringerNature2021 1
R.Wünschiers,GeneticEngineering,Springeressentials,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-32403-2_1