Genetics register

[I know nothing]

Ok, I know nothing about genetics! Me my Dad and my daughter have an identically shaped toe nail which is obviously inherited, i.e. same shape same toe. By looking at out genes is it possible to figure out which gene causes this? Is this of value? if there was a register of such things surely it would enable researchers to figure out which genes did what and therefore highlight which ones were more important for medical research!

 

Does a register exist?

 

As I said "I know nothing!!!!"

[zajtat]

Hi there,

 

I know little about genetics, but nothing about toe nails

So far, there's no gene identified that would be responsible for the shape of toe nails and registers you're writing about are just kind of forming. Researchers have been collecting data on specific diseases and it's only a couple of years they've started to collect all sorts of data (like for example the shape of the toe nail).

Anyway, once such data is collected there's a good chance that gene you're curious about can be identified.

[Psycho]

Yes there is massive data bases of all the known genetic sequences and protein sequences throughout all the organisms that can be studied you can just put in the protein sequences of gene sequences and it will come up with results that are similar to it giving a number to represent the similarity, this is one of the first things that is done when a gene sequences is isolated to see if it is similar to any known sequences as it will give a probably insight into what it does or which family of proteins it comes from.

 

One of these is called BLAST

[CharonY]

That is not what he is looking for. Essentially our knowledge as this point is generally too limited to make such kind of detailed inferences as described in the OP.

That being said there are certain traits that have been successfully associated with a genomic area. But again, at this point it is still a long way to go.

[iNow]

Charon - Can you let us know what you think are the two or thee main hurdles we must overcome to get closer to that point? My sense is that it's just a matter of time and countless hours of mundane, repetitive, menial labor from grad students, and wonder if that's accurate, or if there's potentially some larger obstacle we must find a way to circumvent.

[CharonY]

Essentially when you talk about how to deduce function from sequence then there are quite a lot of obstacles, not all of which can be easily solved just by doggedly working at them (and far too many to squeeze into a short post). At least not the way it is currently done. I do not have the time to write a lengthy assay on it. But just let me give an example to show how problematic the issue is. E. coliis the single best genetically characterized organism on earth. It is a very single organism and tt has been under genetic investigation for decades. Analyzes, which include knocking out every single gene in the genome and then look in the cell for altered functions, metabolic activities, etc. Obviously these techniques are not applicable to humans for both technical and ethical reasons.

That being said, to date still roughly 30% of all its genes (and we are not talking about non coding functions, of which the majority of the human genome consists of) are totally unknown. Even if you knock it out the cell does not seem to bother. Yet it should fulfill some function, but what?

The case is much much much more complicated for humans, for instance. Maybe it is a matter of time, but in addition novel techniques are needed. As such just pouring in more time will not eventually solve the problem (otherwise E. coli would be finalized by now.

 

Again, one does need novel ways to correctly identify genes and assign gene functions. Correctly map out their role within a cell and then within the tissue, organ, organism. Accurately reconstruct and create quantitative models of regulatory networks. And somehow use this information to predict complex phenotypes. The latter will be in the domain of systems biology, but as of there is still an ongoing identity crisis for this field. And in addition, it does not solve the problem of proteins with unknown functions (usually vast majority in most eukaryotic genomes).

Edited August 7, 2009 by CharonY

[iNow]

Precisely the type of response I was looking for. Thanks, Charon.