Although we are all different and unique, we humans have 99.9% of the
same genetic blueprint (blue print) to the extent that the deoxyribonucleic
acid or DNA of Chimpanzees is 98% identical to the DNA of humans. But that difference of two percent makes it Chimpanzees
and us humans. This difference of 0.01 percent separates all of us humans from
each other. This 0.01 percent is a small difference that is the most important
that gives each human a unique identity. It usually decides how you will stand
out from others, what qualities you will have and what diseases you may have. Our DNA is a
secret but can it and the genes in it be changed so that we can change
ourselves in the future or avoid new diseases in the future.
All of our bodies are made up of cells and a normal human being has about
15 billion cells and they can increase or decrease depending on the weight of
each person. The most important part of our cell is the nucleus. If it is said
in simple words, the central part of the cell is called the nucleus and inside
this central part there are 23 pairs of chromosomes, meaning their total number
is 46. Each of these 23 lone pairs contains one chromosome from the mother and
one from the father. These chromosomes are the storage places of our genetic
codes, meaning each chromosome contains our genetic code and the name of this
code is DNA. Just as everything in the computer is made with coding, similarly
our body is made on this coding called DNA. When each cell of the body dies,
its information is transferred to a new cell by DNA. Our genetic blueprint is
actually stored in this DNA. DNA transmits this information about our
genetic makeup from one generation to the next. Simply put, our DNA carries our
genetic information, which is why a human child is a human being. A person's
appearance, color, thoughts, understanding, all this is transferred from one
generation to another with the help of his DNA. Many diseases are also genetic
which are caused by DNA. That DNA is actually coiled in a twisted form. If you
were to extract the DNA from a single organism and pull it apart, it would be 6
feet long but only 50 billionths of an inch thick. If you were to pull all the
DNA in your body and connect it to each other, a line would be so long that it
would reach from the Earth to the Sun 600 times. Like their DNA, our body has
ribonucleic acid or RNA that makes proteins in our body, and the chain of DNA
doubles while that of RNA is single.
Why is DNA so important?
Ever since this world was formed, every living thing, every bacterium, we
humans are fighting for our survival and the changes that come in us with this
fight are what we learn from them or the mutation that takes place. It is
passed on to the next generations with the help of evolution and the DNA of the
previous generations transmits the same information to the next generations and
because of that we are like our parents, their color, the color of their eyes,
their skills, we inherit them. But when there is some kind of defect in DNA, it is
called the process of change (mutate) and this change can be good or bad. Due
to this change one's body can change a human hand has six fingers, and a child's
hair is white at birth, these are all due to changes. Mutations in humans don't make much of a difference, but
when a virus or bacteria mutates, it can become much more dangerous or much
weaker. Sometimes a change in an organism or in us humans is passed down to the
next generation.
Can we make modifications to our DNA to make our future generations
stronger, better?
Genetic engineers are researching this. Some genetic diseases with
physical ability or information about it are also transmitted to the next
generation with the help of DNA and according to a survey, one out of every 25
children is born with some genetic defect. But if we recognize these genetic
defects in time and somehow, we can genetically modify them, then we can prevent
many infectious diseases from reaching the next generation. This procedure is
called gene editing. Scientists
are doing a lot of research on this project as hybrids of many agricultural
species are created by genetic modification. Apart from that, biologists are developing many next-generation antibiotics that can fight even the most dangerous infectious
diseases. Many countries of
the world are also researching genetic modification to strengthen their
military so that in the future they can produce people who can work longer
without getting tired and who are stronger than us. One of the main
difficulties in working on this project is that scientists need to be very
careful. If even the smallest mistake is made in the DNA or genetic mutation,
it can make a person completely different. And for this, scientists have proposed a new theory
according to which a person's damaged organs are repaired or replaced. This machine is
called CRISPR-Cas9. On which research is being done in the United States. In
this procedure, scientists replace the damaged part of the DNA in the body and
repair it in some places. This is also called genome editing. Thus, many infectious diseases can be cured with the
help of genome editing. However, in 2015, for the first time, this technique
has been used on humans. A little girl in the UK had cancer for which there
is no cure, and a blood sample was taken and genome-editing genes were inserted
into her blood, similar to fresh DNA. Then these genome-edited organisms
stopped the growth of cancer cells and thus did the trick.
Even today this craft is used to get rid of infectious diseases. But this
profession requires a lot of observation and everything should be perfect in
it, there should not be any possibility of confusion. Maybe in the future we
will make genetic modifications in our DNA and become a superhuman who is safe
from all kinds of diseases.
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