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0How the discovery of DNA changed the world and my life | BBC Ideas
DNA contains the genetic code found in all known life on our planet. In each of nearly all of your roughly 30 trillion cells, there are 6.4 billion letters of DNA. It’s powerful stuff. If the DNA in all of your cells was used to store computer data, it could hold the equivalent of all the digital data we currently store on Earth.
DNA包含在我们星球上所有已知生命中发现的遗传密码。在你大约30万亿个细胞中，几乎每个细胞都有64亿个DNA字母。这是很强大的东西。如果你所有细胞中的DNA都被用来存储计算机数据，它可以保存相当于我们目前存储在地球上的所有数字数据。
I’m Paul Nurse, and I’ve spent much of my working life thinking about DNA, in particular how it’s copied and distributed inside cells every time they divide. I was awarded the Nobel Prize for this work in 2001. Our understanding of deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, has grown enormously since its discovery in the 19th century.
我是保罗 · 纳斯，我工作生涯的大部分时间都在思考 DNA 尤其是每次细胞分裂时它是如何在细胞内复制和分布的。我在2001年因为这项工作被授予诺贝尔奖。自从19世纪脱氧核糖核酸或 DNA 被发现以来，我们对它的了解有了很大的提高。
DNA was shown to be responsible for genetic inheritance in 1944. Then, in 1953, its structure was revealed using X-rays. And DNA turns out to be a stunningly elegant molecule. What you’re looking at is the original DNA model currently on display in the Science Museum in London. It shows two long chains of molecules spiralling around each other in a double helix, like a twisted ladder. The rungs are pairs of four chemicals marked as A, G, C and T. Determining the order of these chemicals – their sequence – is known as sequencing. Being able to describe the DNA sequence allows scientists to identify important differences between individuals. These unique differences have become the basis for what is known as our DNA fingerprint.
The first-ever recorded DNA fingerprint was made in 1984 by my friend Alec Jeffreys at the University of Leicester. Using DNA taken from his technician Vicky Wilson, he described not only which parts of her DNA came from her mother and which from her father, but also the unique genetic code she possessed – one shared by no other human being.
DNA fingerprints can prove identity, how we are related and more. DNA testing of hair, skin cells or blood found at crime scenes is now the gold standard for conviction – or exoneration – of suspects. It has revolutionised the criminal justice system.
In 2000, the first draft human genome – all the DNA needed to build a human being – was unveiled. And with the ability to read genomes came new insights into how the human body works and how we evolve.
Analysing DNA sequences has now reached the public in the form of commercial genetic testing by companies such as Ancestry and 23andMe. By sending a saliva sample – and a fee, of course – anyone can receive a report containing information such as where their ancestors were from and who they are related to.
This ability to analyse DNA has had a personal consequence for me. It’s a twist of fate that although I have a long career in genetics, I never realised that my own family had a DNA secret. When I was in my 50s, I found out that the person I’d thought was my sister was, in fact, my mother. My parents – the people who raised me – were, in fact, my grandparents. For a long time, the identity of my father remained a mystery. But amazingly, now in my 70s, recently it was possible to identify him through DNA testing.
Analysing DNA has also enabled scientists to do many extraordinary things, ranging from predicting genetic diseases to studying extinct members of the human family, like Neanderthals, and extinct animals like mammoths.
A new frontier in genetics is CRISPR, a gene-editing tool that works like molecular scissors, enabling scientists to cut and paste fragments of DNA within cells. This means genetic diseases such as haemophilia, muscular dystrophy and cancers, in principle, might be “corrected” by editing the DNA of human embryos. This has the potential to improve many people’s lives, though more research is still required because like all new therapies, they have to be shown to be safe. There are also questions that need to be answered about making changes that can be passed on to future generations. But societies have navigated the challenges that come with new scientific technologies before.
DNA is the stuff of life. It is inevitable that the more we research, the more we will understand about ourselves and the living world, and the more power we will have to change it. All this work with DNA will give insights into human development, allow us to study extinct species and help doctors to treat diseases like cancer with medicine better personalized for everyone’s unique genetic makeup. And we are also starting to make new genetic materials, creating new synthetic proteins that could be used, for example, to help break down pollutants or to reduce greenhouse gases.
Seven decades after the structure of DNA was first revealed, the DNA revolution continues to be exciting. It shows no signs of slowing down.
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