The Jaina Doctrine of Karma And The Science Of Genetics: DNA - Cause Of Bondage - Difference Of Genes

DNA

DNA structure, its working, its importance and role of DNA in bondage is briefed as follow:

Markers then, can help find genes. But first the markers themselves have to be found. Humans are nearly identical, genetically speaking. Only about 0.1 percent of human genome, or three million DNA base pairs out of the total three billion, varies from one person to next (base pairs are chemicals that bind together to form the rugs on the spiral staircase that DNA resembles). Markers are found among the bits of DNA that differ from one person to the next. Such differences, called polymorphisms, can consist of deletion or insertions of genetic material or alteration in just a single base pair. Identifying, all three markers, these bits of DNA that vary from person to person, is the goal of human Genome project.^[57]

All we could pick up were occasional bits of English words such as "trinucleotide repeat" and "PCR". Afterwards, stella explained that the postdoc was working on something called a simple sequence repeat polymorphism, or SSRP, which she called a "Serp". These are short stretches of DNA are repeated again and again. The useful thing about them is that different people have different numbers of repeats on their chromosomes. For example on the chromosome the chemical sequence might be GGATTCA CA CA CA CA CA CA CA CA CAcCA TT AC, which contains eleven repeats of the sequences CA, but on another persons chromosome same stretch of DNA might read GGATT CA CA CA CA CA CA CA CA CA CA CA CA CA, which has thirteen repeats of the phrase CA. These sequences serve as genetic finger prints found all over the genome, making it possible to map every bit of DNA.

From a practical point of view, the most important thing about these markers is that they can be detected easily and economically with a method called the polymerize chain reaction or PCR. Heating and cooling the DNA while mixing it with special enzymes and chemical causes the short stretches of DNA markers to duplicate again and again. After fourty cycles of heating and cooling the original target DNA has a billion copies. The technique once dismissed as an academic exercise with no practical use, has become one of the most powerful tools of molecular biology and won the invortor, Karry Mullis, a 1993 Nobel Prize winner. PCR works each of the four chemicals that form DNA can only make a ring on the ladder a base pair—with one other chemical. So adenine (A) always pairs with thymine (T) and guanine (G) always pairs with Cytosine (C). That means knowing the pattern of chemicals on the side of the ladder automatically gives you the pattern on the other side. Working like a chemical Velcro, only opposite with stick together to form the DNA ladder.^[58]

Every cell in the human body contains a nucleus, with the exception of red blood cells, which lose their structure as they mature. Within the nucleus are tightly coiled thread like structure known as chromosomes. Humans normally have 23 pairs of chromosomes, one member of each pair derived from the mother and one from father. One of those pairs consists of sex chromosomes with two X chromosomes determining femaleness and one X and one Y determining maleness. The other 22 chromosomes are known as autosomes. Each chromosome has with in it, arranged end to end, hundreds or thousands of the genes each with a specific location, consisting of the inherited genetic material known as deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Scientists have numbered these autosomes from 1-22 in size order, with chromosome 1 being the largest (containing nearly 3000 genes) DNA contains a code that directs the 'expression' or production of proteins, which form much of the structure of the cell and control chemical reactions with in them. The DNA of each gene is characterized by a unique sequence bases that form the "genetic code". These bases are arranged in group of three, known as codons or phrases. The base sequence is the crucial feature of the gene. It is this sequence that carries the genetic information essential for the synthesis of an RNA molecule that may subsequently direct the synthesis of an RNA molecule that may subsequently direct the synthesis of a protein molecule or may itself be functional in the cell. This process is called "gene expression"; it has two stages. The first stage in gene expression is transcription (the process by which RNA directs the synthesis of proteins). Proteins are composed of amino acids and are the molecules that carry out the work of the cell.^[59]

There are four building blocks (referred for as bases or nudeotides) for DNA: adenine (A) and guanine (G) which are known as purines and the thymine (T) and Cytosine (C) which are known as pyrimidines. These nucleotides link together to form long polynucleotide chains, having a defined sequence of nucleotides. A DNA molecule consists of two of these chains, linked together by hydrogen bonds, running in opposite directions. The two chains link together in a ladder like shape, twisted into the new famous double helix first described by James Watson and Francis Crick in 1953, who were awarded the noble prize for their work—a structure for Deoxyribonucleic acid (1953). Linkage of the chains follows a strict rule, known as complimentary base paring, so that the base A can only pair with the base T and vice versa and the base G can only pair with the base C and vice versa. The human genome comprises about 3.2 billion of these base pairs. A genome is an organism's entire genetic material. All living organisms contain genetic material or genomes, one of the most commonly accepted definition of gene is that a gene contains all of the information required to determine the expression of a specific protein or chain of amino acid (a polypeptide) sometimes a polypeptide can form a complete protein on its own (as in the case of insulin). Proteins are themselves made up of a chain of amino acids. With in the DNA there is a code that determines which amino acids will come together to form that particular protein. The genetic code for each amino acid, consisting of three bases, is virtually identical across all living organisms.

Different genes are switched on and off in different cells, leading to different proteins being made or expressed with varying structures, appearances and functions—leading to the production of brain cells, nerve cells, blood cells and so on. The process of reading the message in DNA is called "trascription". The process of converting the message encoded in the RNA (mRNA) to protein using the ribosomes is called translation. In humans, genes comprise only 2% small portion of the DNA in a cell and upto 98% of DNA consist of non coding regions—popularly but incorrectly, referred to as "Junk DNA" which are full of repeat sequences.^[60]