The first question which would pop up in our minds when reading this article would probably be “What is Genetics”? Genetics is the branch of science which involves genes. The topic helps us understand the process of hereditary and variation amongst organisms. In this article I will be covering one large subtopic amongst the other several sub-topics genetics has.
Molecular Genetics
Molecular genetics would involve analysing the tiny, minimal differences between the DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) molecules between two or more organisms and understanding the variation it may have caused. The ACGT (adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine) are bases present in a single DNA molecule.
The different arrangement of ACGT causes variation to occur which is called variation by DNA sequencing. To give an example of another type of comparison, Multiple Sequence Alignment (MSA) notice the following to strands of alphabets.
MIAAQLLAYYFTELKDDQVKKIDKYLYAMRLSDETLIDIMTRFRKEMKNGLSRDFNPTAT
MIAAQLLAYYFTELKDDQVKKIDKYLYAMRLSDEILIDILTRFKKEMKNGLSRDYNPTAS
If you compare the two strands of Multiple Sequences, almost each letter is the same besides only 5 of them. The first line of sequencing I’ve included is that of a human, while the second one is a rat’s DNA sequence. The minimal differences between these three alphabets result in the large differences between humans and rats.
Genetic Disorders
A Genetic Disorder is a disease caused by an alteration in a whole or certain fragment of DNA. These can be caused by a genetic mutation in one gene or by a combination of genetic mutations and environmental factors.
For example, one of the most common genetic disorders we have heard about is Cancer. When DNA replication is occurring, there is a chance of a mutation or error of taking place. Several of these mutations are automatically repaired. But if these mistakes occur and remain in genes responsible for growth, it leads to tumour formation and cancer. For the tumour to become malignant, the mutations must be in several growth controlling genes.
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