A gene could be described as the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) segment that dictates or contributes to phenotype or function or the basic biological unit of heredity (Kielkopf et al., 2021). Most genes have the necessary information for making functional molecules, the proteins. Some genes have the capacity and do produce molecules aiding the cell in assembling proteins. The “gene to protein” process is tightly managed inside the cell and involves transcription and translation processes which are together referred to as gene expression. Transcription consists of the movement of information stored in the gene’s DNA to the ribonucleic acid (RNA), a similar molecule in the cell nucleus (Yamashita et al., 2018). The DNA and RNA both have nucleotide bases but lightly differ in their chemical properties. Messenger RNA (mRNA) has the information for making a protein, and it has the message or information that it transfers out into the cytoplasm. Translation happens in the cytoplasm through the interaction of the mRNA and the ribosome. The ribosome reads the sequence of the mRNA bases (codons), which are the codes for amino acids (the building blocks of proteins). Protein assembly persists until the ribosome gets a ‘stop ‘codon. Transcription of the amino acid chains happens followed by a translation that later fold into functional proteins. Transcription ensures the change of DNA to mRNA, and translation involves reading mRNAs to make proteins (Kielkopf et al., 2021).
Epigenetics refers to studying an organism’s behaviors, and the environment can lead to changes that influence the way genes work (Abdul et al., 2017). Notably, epigenetic modifications are reversible. As a result, they do not interfere with the organism’s DNA sequence but modify how the body interprets the DNA sequence. Gene expression is how often and when the creation of proteins takes place following instructions in the genes. Epigenetics affect gene expression by either turning genes “off” or “on.” Epigenetic changes affect gene expression in DNA methylation (addition of a chemical group to the DNA), histone modification (DNA wrapping around histones to limit access to proteins), and non-coding RNA. In using genetic screening for medical and psychological disorders, some ethical considerations are privacy protection and confidentiality. The information on the subject, such as their family history, carrier status, and risk of genetic diseases, could be stigmatizing thus necessary to be kept confidential. Respect and protection for one’s privacy also need to be upheld by keeping the information away from unauthorized personnel (Keskinbora, 2019).
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References
Abdul, Q. A., Yu, B. P., Chung, H. Y., Jung, H. A., & Choi, J. S. (2017). Epigenetic modifications of gene expression by lifestyle and environment. Archives of Pharmacal Research, 40(11), 1219-1237.https://doi.org/10.1007/s12272-017-0973-3.
Keskinbora, K. H. (2019). Medical ethics considerations on artificial intelligence. Journal of Clinical Neuroscience, 64, 277-282.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jocn.2019.03.001.
Kielkopf, C., Bauer, W., & Urbatsch, I. L. (2021). Expressing cloned genes for protein production, purification, and analysis. Cold Spring Harbor Protocols, 2021(2), PDB-top102129.
Yamashita, S., Kishino, T., Takahashi, T., Shimazu, T., Charvat, H., Kakugawa, Y., et al. (2018). Genetic and epigenetic alterations in normal tissues have differential impacts on cancer risk among tissues. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(6), 1328-1333.https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1717340115.
