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The deeper genome
John Parrington
There was much hype when the human genome was sequenced, but there are claims that what was promised in the way of new treatments for diseases has not been delivered. But should we be disappointed that results didn't flow quickly. New scientific discoveries often take decades to be utilised for practical purposes, so why should we expect it to be different in this case. But now we are getting more and more details about the complexities of the genome and its workings in living beings. I'm hoping this book will explain some of these complexities, and indicate possible paths to using this knowledge for our benefit. The book jumps into the ENCODE controversy. Much DNA is thought of as 'junk', but the ENCODE experiment suggests that this is wrong, that most DNA has a purpose, we just have to identify it. Some think that this is simply imagining a purpose when there is none. There are those who see a simple genetic basis for everything and those who dismiss such links as nonsense. In this book it seems that Parrington intends to take a middle way, being willing to look at speculative ideas, but always making sure that they are grounded on solid experimental evidence, and always bearing in mind that things might be more complicated than they first appeared to be. So far it looks very interesting. |
