Gene Mutations
 

What are some that you think are awesome or just plain stupid.

What do you think will be in store for these "gene mutations" in the future? Do you thikn their will be a "mad scientist" aspect of it?




Tore's bit:

Genes mutate all the time which important when it comes to giving rise to genetic diversity. You can think of genes as a piece of paper with a nice drawing on it. If you put that in a copier and make 100 copies, not all those papers are gonna be 100% identical. Genes mutate because of mutagens that are substances we get in our bodies, because of errors in replication of genes during mitosis or meiosis (cell splitting) or simply because of radiation or background radiation from space which we can do nothing about. In other words, genes mutate all the time - in you, me and all those rats crawling around in the sewers.

Genes make gene products, proteins, and a mutated gene could make a protein with the same function as the "unmutated gene" (if those exist) but sometimes, the gene product is slightly altered so that function is less or completely destroyed.

Albinism in humans is caused by a mutation in the genetic pathway to producing melanin so that melanin prudction is less or totally disrupted.

For this thread to be fruitful, I think we need to clarify some terms. We can start with gene mutations.

Genes mutate all the time which important when it comes to giving rise to genetic diversity. You can think of genes as a piece of paper with a nice drawing on it. If you put that in a copier and make 100 copies, not all those papers are gonna be 100% identical. Genes mutate because of mutagens that are substances we get in our bodies, because of errors in replication of genes during mitosis or meiosis (cell splitting) or simply because of radiation or background radiation from space which we can do nothing about. In other words, genes mutate all the time - in you, me and all those rats crawling around in the sewers.

Genes make gene products, proteins, and a mutated gene could make a protein with the same function as the "unmutated gene" (if those exist) but sometimes, the gene product is slightly altered so that function is lessened or completely destroyed.

Albinism in humans is caused by a mutation in the genetic pathway to producing melanin so that melanin prudction is less or totally disrupted.


In other words, I suspect you didn't want to make a thread about mutated genes! I suspect you wanted to make a thread about genetically modified humans or animals. :D

I will put that in my First post as your little bit on this thread but really im asking what mutations have they heard of animnal,plant(boring),human(EXCITING). Basically all of the above. but yeah gene mutations needs to be clarrifyed

Oh well .. I think blue eyes is a nice mutation. ;)

I have blue eyes hahahahahahahahah



Or having an arm crawling out of your ear is pretty sweet

A lot of the children born in Chernobyl after the disaster have various mutations and severe disabilities as a result.

http://k53.pbase.com/o6/64/477964/1/...MG_8123web.jpg

I think that is just so sad. But what gets me even more is Gene Mutations that can be avoided like F.A.S. (Fetal Alchol Syndrom). By baby sister has this. It's so sad she can't talk,she has no friend she can't go to the bathroom by herself it just sucks.


http://hhs.muni.org/wic/images/fas.jpg


^ That's the common looks of a FAS baby.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is awful, but probably not caused by mutations as such. Alcohol can disrupt the development of the child, but I don't think it's because it causes mutations.

Anyways, I agree that it's awful and it's sad to hear that it's happened in your family. Pregnant women should stay off the juice!

Yeah they should, But she is'nt my REAL sister she is a foster child, but makes no diffrence I treat her as my own sibiling. Anyways she just turned 7 and her mother was 14 when she had her. I mean this poor kid has Autism,FAS,and some other big word where she is missing a chromasone. I feel so sad. She speaks sign language so it has b een a learning experience for me. I actually like talkign with my hands.

Oh, it's so sad Coryallen!
And that child from Chernobyl...poor thing.
Well, for all i know, permanent gene mutations(in a race) like albinism need hundred even thousand years to happen. However mutations in certain individuals(FAS, autism and others) can happen because of stress, radioactivity, illnesses happening during pregnancy but even if the woman is healthy (as you said, errors during meiosis and mitosis).
I don't think think there will be the "mad scientist aspect". They can manipulate genes in one or a group of persons but that doesn't guarantee the continuation of it through generations. Only helpful for survival mutations (or harmless ones) may become permanent to humans. That's at least what Darwin's theory of evolution tells us.

So, Corey, I'm curious to what you mean by a "mad scientist" aspect of gene mutation. Are you referring to science-controlled births? I think that we can easily discuss both genetically modified animals and plants (NOT BORING! :P) AND gene mutations, for they're along the same lines. However, gene mutations usually happen naturally (through the heriditary line). Also, there are mutations that are only active in certain races and genders. We all have mutated genes, and I think this fact is mind-boggling. Surprising, no, but when you take into consideration how specialized our bodies are, it's kind of scary knowing that you're a carrier of mutated genes. Most are not harmful, but tore had a great point. After much repetition, it's bound to continue it's mutation. As for genetically modified animals and plants - I think we've been doing this for awhile now. More so with plants than animals, I think. Does anyone know of a specific example of genetically modified animals? Does cloning count? My thoughts are kind of scattered about this topic, but I'm definitely interested for sure.

Also, for future posts, Corey, maybe you should do a little bit more research on the topic before you dedicate an entire thread to it. Not trying to bash you or anything, just some suggestions.

Some of my favorite genetic mutations:
http://www.marveldirectory.com/pictu...en/xmen70s.jpg

^ Oh hells yeahs. :D

X-men Origins!!!! :eek:

I was just going for the mutants per square inch factor.

I think people are not fully grasping mutations quite yet. Mutations give rise to genetic diversity and while the chance of it happening is "rare", there's so much DNA in every one of us that if you think in totals, they happen all the time. We have enzymes that try to repair our DNA as best as they can but they can't prevent all of it. We accumulate mutations as we get older. For example many things that lead to cancer are things that cause mutations. It doesn't take thousands of years to get blue eyes, that mutation could not be there in one generation, then suddenly it's there in the next. The eyes are blue because there's less pigment .. In other words, something happened to a gene that caused there to be less pigment in the eyes than usual.

It could take thousands of years until that gene has become successful and spread around in a population. However, time as such depends more on the generation time and how successful the mutated gene is compared to it's "unmutated" version.

I write "unmutated" because all our genes are results of mutations. In other words, this thread is about something entirely natural which happens in all of us and not really something controversial .. at least not yet.

Its essentially the process of genetic adaptation and evolution on a microscopic scale w/ a whole lot of trial and error thrown in for good measure; not to imply that the mutations are intentional.

Yes .. Every now and then a gene will mutate and the new version will, purely by chance, be a slight improvement meaning that having the new version will be a slight advantage to the organism carrying it compared to having the old version. And as SATCHMO says, that's part of evolution.

Usually, the successfulness of a gene is relative. If you have a gene that makes a rat brown and then a mutated version of that gene that causes the rat to become black, you can imagine that in some cases, it will be most beneficial to be brown but in some cases, maybe it's better to be black.

In other words, the successfulness of a new potentially competitive mutation depends on many things and evolution is about adaptation and so one should be a bit careful with the word "improvement". People shouldn't think of evolution as climbing up a ladder. ;)