Genetic failures

Every family has its problems. Many problems can be trivial except diseases and disorders. Diseases and disorders that are passed down through generations by genetics can be very dangerous. Now what exactly is a disease or a disorder?  A genetic disease or disorder is any disease that is caused by an abnormality in an individual's genome[1]. Genome is a person’s genetic make-up. A common question is “how do genes pass down through generations?” We all have dominant and recessive genes. If the diseased gene is dominant the offspring will  have a pretty good chance to have the disease. However if the gene is recessive, there is a tremendously smaller chance that the offspring will have the disease. Also diseased genes can skip generations. For example, grandparents can have the disease and pass it to their children. Although they won’t necessarily have the disease and they will pass the disease from the parent to the grand child and the grandchild will have the disease. Knowing that diseases can be heritable leads to many people to have their DNA tested.

When was genetic testing thought of? Genetic testing has been evolving over the past four hundred years. It first started with the idea of cells in the later 1600’s. Later in the 1800’s the “building blocks of life”, or in other words the cell, was discovered and explored. Also in the 1800’s chromosomes were found by Walther Flemming. Now the inheritance of diseases comes into the picture in 1902 by linking it to chromosomes. In the 1950’s there was numerous discoveries of DNA and its character. In 1975 a method to isolate and analyze DNA fragments was discovered which is now known as the “Southern blot analysis” and is used in genetic testing[2].  In 1993 the PCR method of DNA analysis was discovered. The PCR method is referred to as the Polymerase Chain Reaction. This is the process of amplifying single or few copies of a piece of DNA across several orders of magnitude, generating thousands to millions of copies of a particular DNA sequence.[3] Scientists want to be able to take a CD or a flash-drive, which has all your DNA information on it, hook it up or put it into a computer and the computer will tell whether or not you will have the diseases later on in your lifetime.  The research is still moving forward in genetic testing. The more researchers learn and discover, the easier it will be for them to design tests for people to take to find out if they will have to live with a genetic disease. It seems that genetic research is inclining. Insurance companies are paying scientist to look into this because they want to be able to decline or accept someone to their insurance, and if they have genetic disease, they don’t want to cover someone who is going to die prematurely. Much of the research is taking place In Wales and England and America. This application of biotechnology was developed because scientists had a goal. This goal was to track and predict the happenings of diseases or disorders through generations of people.