The Gene composite

There is a set of numerous genes in the complex body structure, which controls the diversity in features, attitudes, behavior, and, in many cases, but by no means in all, the impact of disease and resistance to inducing pathogens. The number of huge variants that are known to be present, approach between 600.000 and 2 million. However, only a few dozen traits are well enough understood in the gene -market companies, which are associated with the risk of developing diseases such as Alzheimer’s, heart disease or diabetes.

However, there is continuous effort particularly with advance of nanotechnology, to accumulate a large enough database of genetic variants that are linked to disease -susceptible or other traits. Some genome-scanning companies are already beginning to do this with customers’ data. The issue here is to convince 100, 00 or more volunteers in order to put their genome sequences in a public database. This is as long as one is not worried about privacy issues and medical secrecy. Learning about one’s genes may put the person to a certain awareness (e.g. 20%) of the risk of developing disease now or in future, but might not be enough for the person does a certain activity e.g. diet-watching, taking medicine or avoiding smoking etc.

The sequencing of whole genomes is still too slow and expensive, not to mention the complexity of their effects or complex aggregate effects in controlling certain single or composite variants.

The genome study was extended to other various beings, e.g. animals and plants. Genome sequencing and assignment to a certain trait, led to the discovery in subduing certain features e.g. susceptibility to certain disease, pathogen or infection. At least, this gained some success in certain GM modified plants, e.g. the canola, and maize corn wherein there was increased productivity and resistance to pathogens.

But again, the question that may arise, are these modified genomes, controlling only one variant, or several others that we are not aware of? Loss of palatability, taste, and nutritional value are known to occur in the GM plants and food derived from them. There is always the notion that at least more than one variant may be associated with a genome or indeed, a multiple of these, which may act concordantly.

Also what applies for plants may apply to human beings and animals alike. The suppression or enhancement of a certain trait may not be as simple as it looks. The complexity here is well warranted; and unless we exhaustively exploit the gene-factor mechanism, we will be still groping in the dark.
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