Presents information on the United States Department of Energy and
the National Institutes of Health's Human Genome Project. Background on
the study; Role of the environment in personal development; Information
on genetic uncertainties.
By
Marc Bertucco, published on March 01, 2001
BIOTECHNOLOGY
Despite recent advances in human genetic research, predicting and
treating psychological disorders through genetic means remains largely
theoretical. Currently, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and National
Institutes of Health's Human Genome Project hopes to complete a detailed
"road map" of the human genome by 2003, and a nearly complete working
draft is scheduled for publication in February 2001. "We're creating a
resource that thousands of scientists can then use to do the research
they want to do," says Daniel Drell, Ph.D., of the DOE Office of
Biological and Environmental Research.
Approximately 100 genes are currently used for diagnosis, but the
human genome has an estimated 50,000 to 100,000 genes. While some genes
have been known for 40 years, others connected to diseases like
Alzheimer's were only recently discovered and so are more controversial.
For example, every human has ApoE, the so-called Alzheimer's gene. Only
when there is a particular abnormality within that gene does the
possibility of developing the disease exist.
In addition to these genetic uncertainties, scientists are quick to
remind us of the environment's important role in making us who we are.
Drell explains that while certain psychological disorders seem to run in
the family, studies on identical twins have revealed that the genetic
component is just one piece of a very complicated puzzle.
"If you look at the concordance rate in identical twins [for mental
conditions], it is somewhere in the 50% range," Drell says. "lf it were
100% then you would say genes were responsible that's clear. But because
it is in the 50% range, you have to say that while genes are important,
they're not everything."
Because of these complexities, gene therapy for behavioral and
emotional disorders is probably decades away, and it's also not the whole
answer. "The brain and its functioning remain more complicated and more
mysterious than absolutely anything else that goes on in the human body,"
says Drell. "[This] is going to take us a very, very, very long
time."
Tags:
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