Your genes (From Salisbury Journal)

Your genes

12:13pm Monday 1st October 2007 in Your Health

It is common to hear talk of genetics' and genes' these days but what do we mean by this? The subject is truly breathtaking in its complexity.

Your body is made up of around 100 million million (100 Trillion) cells!

Cells are the discrete building blocks of every tissue and organ in the body.

At the heart of these is the nucleus or control centre of the cell thanks to its blueprint' for cell function provided by the double-helix structured molecules of D.N.A.

Segments of the D.N.A. function as genes' by instructing the manufacture of proteins which are needed for cells to do their particular job.

We have around 25,000 genes carried on 46 (23 pairs) of Chromosomes (large chunks of DNA).

It is hardly surprising given the fundamental importance of genes and the complexity involved that genetic problems are an important cause of disease.

One of these is the condition Cystic Fibrosis which affects over 7,500 people in the UK.

Cystic Fibrosis affects the internal organs, especially the lungs and digestive system, by clogging them with thick sticky mucus. This makes it hard to breathe and digest food.

The usual genetic error that causes Cystic Fibrosis is the loss of just three chemical signals within the D.N.A. out of 250,000 within that gene located on the long arm of Chromosome 7 which altogether carries 171 million such signals (or bases')!

To find out more about our genetics and cystic fibrosis in particular you may like to explore the following websites: www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/medicine/assist.shtml
www.cftrust.org.uk/aboutcf/whatiscf/
www.hgc.gov.uk/Client/index.asp?ContentId=1