Unit 17

Genetic Engineering

What areas of biotechnology do you know?

What does geneticengineering deal with?

Where can bio-technologists apply the products of genetic en- gineering?

Comment the jokeon the picture. How do you understand it?

1. Read this textandtranslate.

The scope of ge- netic engineering

Genetic engineering is the area of biotechnol- ogy concerned with the directed alteration of genetic material.

Biotechnology has already had countless appli- cations in industry, agriculture, and medicine. It is a hotbed* of research. The finishing of the human ge- nome project – a “rough draft” of the entire human genome was published in the year 2000 – was a sci- entific milestone** by anyone’s standards. Research is now shifting to decoding the functions and inter-

actions of all these different genes and to developing applications based on this information. The potential medical benefits are too many to list; researchers are working on every common disease, with varying de- grees of success. Progress takes place not only in the development of drugs and diagnostics but also in the creation of better tools and research methodologies, which in turn accelerates progress.

When considering what developments are likely over the long term, such improvements in the research process itself must be factored in***. The human ge- nome project was completed ahead of schedule (it usually takes ten years to get from proof-of-concept to successful commercialization).

Genetic therapies are of two sorts: somatic and germ-line. In somatic gene therapy, a virus is typically used as a vector to insert genetic material into the cells of the recipient's body. The effects of such inter- ventions do not carry over into the next generation. Germ-line genetic therapy is performed on sperm or egg cells, or on the early zygote, and can be inherit- able. Embryo screening, in which embryos aretested

extroversion, conscientiousness, physical appearance, etc. – involve genetic predispositions. Single-gene disorders, such as cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia, and Huntington's disease are likely to be among the first targets for genetic intervention. Polygenic traits and disorders, in which more than one gene is impli- cated, may follow later, although even polygenic con- ditions can sometimes be influenced in a beneficial direction by targeting a single gene.

Notes

*hotbed – a place where a lot of particular kind of activity happens.

**milestone – a very important event in the de- velopment of smth.

***to factor in – to include a particular thing in your calculations about how long something will take, how much it will cost etc.

Vocabulary

for genetic defects or other traits and then selectively implanted, can also count as a kind of germ-line inter- vention. Human gene therapy, except for some forms of embryo screening, is still experimental. Nonethe- less, it holds promise for the prevention and treatment of many diseases, as well as for uses in enhancement medicine.

The potential scope of genetic medicine is vast: virtually all disease and all human traits – intelligence,

accelerate (v) application benefit

carry over (v) commondisease concern with (v) consider (v) decode (v) degree

diagnostic disease disorder drug embryo generation

genetic engineering germ-line therapy implicate (v)

improve (v) improvement inheritable insert (v) interaction intervention involve (v) list (v) predisposition prevention

screening shift (v)

somatic therapy sort

sort (v) target (v) therapy tool

trait virus

5. human /still experimental/ therapy /is/gene

6. involve /and /predispositions /all disease /all human traits/genetic

Concern germ-line embryo screening interven- tion common disease interactions inheritable so- maticembryos

4. Complete the sentences using the words fromthe box in the correct form.

projectrecipient

zygote

1)Geneticengineering alteration of geneticmaterial.

with the directed

2. Give Russian equivalents for the followingwords:

genetic engineering, genetic material, human genome, potential medical benefits, research meth- odologies, proof-of-concept, somatic gene therapy, recipient's body, germ-line genetic therapy, egg cells, zygote, embryo screening, enhancement medi- cine, potential scope of genetic medicine, single- genedisorders.

2. Put the words in the right order and writedown thesentences:

1. is /biotechnology /research /of /ahotbed

2. different genes /and /research /of/decodes

/the functions /interactions

3. into /the effects /the next generation /do not carryover

4. are /genetic defects /embryos /testedfor

2. Germ-line genetic therapycanbe .

3. Human gene therapy, except for some forms of , is stillexperimental.

4. Research wants to decode the functionsand

of all these differentgenes.

2. Genetic therapies are oftwosorts: and .

3. Researchers are workingonevery with varying degrees ofsuccess.

4. Embryoscreeningtests forgeneticdefects or othertraits.

5. Single-gene disorders are the first targets for genetic .

5. Use your English-English dictionary andwrite down the definitions to the followingwords:

Decode, disorder,d iagnostic, predisposition, vi- rus,zygote.

5. Translate the following sentences paying at-tention to the wordsinitalics.

1. Врачи выявили у пациентанаследственное

предрасположениек серьезной болезни.

2. После осмотра больному была прописана музыкальнаятерапия.

3. Имеется много штаммов вируса гриппа

(flu).

4. Правительство должноускоритьреализа- цию программыприватизации.

5. После длительного лечения у пациента на- блюдалось значительноеулучшениесостояния здоровья.

6. В природе существует тесноевзаимодей-ствиерастительного и животногомира.

7. Они были на семейной встрече, на которой присутствовало трипоколения; младшее из них было самыммногочисленным.

8. Генная терапия человека, исключая неко- торые формы скрининга эмбрионов, до сих пор находится на экспериментальномуровне.

5. Answer to the questions according to thesense of thetext.

1. What is geneticengineering?

2. Where does biotechnology have its applica- tions?

3. What is human genomeproject?

4. Is there any sense of genetic engineering for medicine?

5. How much time does it usually take to get from proof-of-concept to successful commercializa- tion? What about human genomeproject?

6. Genetic therapies are of two sorts, aren’t they? Can you namethem?

7. What is somatic genetherapy?

8. What is the main idea, principle of germ-line genetictherapy?

9. What is the potential scope of genetic medi- cine?

10. How can polygenic conditions sometimes beinfluenced?

5. Make a plan of this text. Add it with the key-words.

5. Retell this text using yourplan.

5. common word	обычный человек
   in common	впроголодь
   common ground	общий смысл
   commonwealth	нарицательное слово
   common man	общинная земля
   on short common	банальность

   Find the sentence with the word combina-tion ’common disease’. What is the translation? Match English words and their corresponding Rus- sianequivalents.

5. Translate the following one-rooted words:Industry – industrial – industrialism – industrialist – industrialize –industrious;

Apply - applicant - application;

Gene – genealogy – genetics – genome – genetic; Therapy – therapist – therapeutic – therapeutics; Intervene – intervention – intervening – intervention- ism.

5. Read the text and translateit.