A base is a basic component of DNA. Attached like snap fasteners, these bases form base pairs along the length of the DNA helix. Adenine (A) pairs with thymine (T), while guanine (G) pairs with cytosine (C).

BReast CAncer 1 and 2 genes are examples of tumour suppressors that normally help to restrain cell growth. When these genes are mutated and inactivated, cells can grow too much and cancer develops. Someone who has inherited a mutation in BRCA1/BRCA2 has an increased risk of breast (for both women and men), ovarian or prostate cancer.

A gene located in the chromosome region suspected to cause or contribute to a disease. The gene’s function and place of action should suggest a role in the disease in question. For example, the gene coding for a protein that works in the brain and regulates brain transmitters is a good candidate for depression.

An identical copy of an organism. Identical twins have the same nuclear DNA, so they are clones of each other.

When gardeners take cuttings from a plant, they are producing clones because the cuttings grow into plants that are genetically identical to the plant they were cut from.
 

An abbreviation for deoxyribonucleic acid, the essential molecule of heredity. The twisted ladder of the base pairs (also more famously known as the double helix) of the DNA molecule contains the chemically coded instructions to construct and maintain a living organism. The specific sequence of DNA’s bases stores all the hereditary information. Interestingly or distastefully enough, bacterial DNA was first isolated in 1868 by Friedrich Miescher from pus cells, which were smeared, in large quantities on discarded bandages.

We hear about drug targets all the time in genetic research into human disease. Basically, this research tries to determine where a process went wrong for a particular condition so that drugs can be designed to help the process right itself. Researchers can try to figure out the normal biological process and where things go wrong to create disease. If this normal biological process is unknown, researchers can use the fancy new technique of microarrays to compare gene expression between patients and unaffected individuals. Any differences are possible “targets” for therapy because they could indicate what’s “wrong” and causing disease.

For example, type I diabetics do not produce enough insulin, and insulin is provided to the patients so that they can lead a fairly normal life. Now, diabetes research is trying to figure out ways to avoid all the needles needed to provide the missing insulin. So researchers are trying to discover why patients don’t have enough insulin so that new targets for therapy can be developed.
 

It’s possible to delete a particular gene in an organism without harming the surrounding cell. In a gene knockout mouse for example, scientists use this technique to study the physical effects in mice of specific mutations similar to human ones.

Genes are both units of inheritance and encoded messages for the creation of a functional unit in a cell (usually a protein). These functional units determine, among other things, an organism’s appearance, its metabolism and sometimes even its behavior. As far as the size of human genes goes, the average is around 3,000 base pairs, while the largest human gene, dystrophin, incorporates 2.4 million base pairs. (Mutated dystrophin leads to Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy.)

Genetic engineering’ is the manipulation of an organism’s genetic material by introducing new DNA into it. The techniques of genetic engineering are used to produce new varieties of plants and bacteria that act as factories for the production human hormones & vaccines. For example, insulin for diabetics used to be isolated from horses and the “drug” was expensive [and not exactly perfect for humans]. Now, insulin is produced from the human gene engineered into bacteria that are grown in large vats. Because it is now easier to obtain, the “drug” is relatively inexpensive. (This also holds true for antibiotics – often the newer, expensive antibiotics are not yet cloned so they are expensive, whereas garden variety drugs like penicillin are grown in vats.)

These are any procedures to determine predisposition to disease or confirm diagnosis of genetic disease. The type of test can vary and different agencies or governing bodies interpret the term differently, where some say that it refers only to tests on DNA and others say that tests can include gene products. For example, instead of testing for the mutation in the DNA, you can test for the abnormal metabolite found in someone with that genetic disorder. Because other family members are tested in some types of testing, genetic tests can also be used to prove paternity. It is important that genetic counseling be part of the process to make sure that patients understand the test and the results.

This term refers both to the full set of genes carried by a single organism and to that carried by that organism’s species. The precise ordering of As, Ts, Cs and Gs in organisms’ genomes is the foundation of life's diversity. It dictates whether an organism is human or another species such as yeast, rice, wombat, gnat or fruit fly, all of which have their own genomes and either is or could be the focus of genome projects. Because all organisms are related through similarities in DNA sequences, insights gained from nonhuman genomes often lead to new knowledge about human biology.

Genomics aims to decipher and understand the entire genetic information content of an organism. As such, this science is fundamental to all biological research. It differs from classical biological research in its large scale, broad scope and intense reliance on data collection, analysis and information technology.

A scientific term for organic compounds made up of a purine or pyrimidine (base pairs) joined up with a sugar & a phosphate group. Nucleic acids (DNA & RNA) contain nucleotides linked together in great long (fibrous and snot-like) chains.

Proteins are made up of various combinations of amino acids. They support living organisms’ shape & structure in tendon, ligament and claw; carry messages within cells & between them; and as enzymes, they regulate the chemical processes that sustain our and other organisms’ lives.

The science that studies the expressed protein component of the genome. Initially aimed at cataloguing the proteins present in a cell under various conditions, proteomics has joined up with genomics to try to understand how the expression of the genome enables all the complex functions of the cell to work.

Sequencing refers to the reading of the residues within a molecular chain of building blocks. In other words, it is determining the order of nucleotides in a DNA chain or the amino acids within a protein. We often talk about DNA sequencing– the reading of genetic information. By learning the complete human DNA sequence, scientists hope to gain new insights into biology, learn to diagnose and predict disease better, and develop new technologies.

When organism has had a gene from another organism (even a different species) inserted to it or when an organism’s DNA is artificially modified in some way, said organism is labeled ‘transgenic’.

The advantages of this technique? Take cultivated apples, for example. Today, instead of taking several decades of cross-pollinating and grafting to produce apples with desirable traits, genetic engineering can produce apples with particular insect-resisting or fruit-enhancing properties in one generation. In addition, other food crops can be vitamin-enriched, made more disease and pest resistant, and even be engineered to produce edible vaccines. Transgenic or genetically modified crops continue to raise contentious issues and spawn vitriolic arguments between opponents and proponents, in regard to real and imagined environmental, health and economic risks.