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Here's what I don't get about your hypothesis... very rarely is there a single gene for specific trait in humans, right? Usually it's a combination of genes, an

by cal5k 15y ago

Here's what I don't get about your hypothesis... very rarely is there a single gene for specific trait in humans, right? Usually it's a combination of genes, and often the trait produced is the effect of their impact on embryology. So wouldn't it be impossible (and possibly extremely dangerous) to attempt to change many traits by performing in-situ DNA rewrites?

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
ChuckMcM 15y ago
Yes, it would be extremely dangerous. As I understand the current research, its focussed on 'fixing' problems where one link of the chain is broken. So when a specific set of enzymes are missing (think lactose intolerance) or immunodeficiencies. Wholesale rewriting chunks of DNA would, as far as I can tell, likely kill the patient. That being said, the potential gain for some to have larger changes to their DNA will no doubt compel someone to try it. A biologist that gave a tech talk at Google on the technology said he had received calls from althetic trainers asking about how his work might be applied to other areas. He was convinced that there was already some efforts at using gene therapy to 'improve' some athletes capabilities.