Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters is a 1999 popular sciencebook by the science writer Matt Ridley, published by Fourth Estate. The chapters are numbered for the pairs of human chromosomes, one pair being the X and Y sex chromosomes, so the numbering goes up to 22 with Chapter X and Y couched between Chapters 7 and 8.
The book was welcomed by critics in journals such as Nature and newspapers including The New York Times.[1][2] The London Review of Books however found the book "at once instructive and infuriating", as "his right-wing politics lead him to slant the implications of the research".[3]
Context
The book's author, Matt Ridley, is a British journalist and businessman, known for writing on science, the environment, and economics.[4] He studied zoology, gaining his DPhil in 1983.[5]
Structure
The book devotes one chapter to each pair of human chromosomes. Since one (unnumbered) chapter is required to discuss the sex chromosomes, the final chapter is number 22. Ridley was inspired to adopt this model by Primo Levi's book The Periodic Table.[6]
Chapter 1, Life
The first chapter begins with a quote from Alexander Pope on the cycle of life. The very broad topic "Life" is also the topic of the chapter. Ridley discusses the history of the gene briefly, including our "last universal common ancestor".
Chapter 2, Species
Ridley discusses the history of human kind as a genetically distinct species. He compares the human genome to chimpanzees, and ancestral primates. He also points out that until the 19th century, most scholars believed that there were 24 sets of genes, not 23 as known today.
Huntington's chorea is used to discuss the use of a particular sequence on Chromosome Four to cause traumatic health consequences. The search for the chromosomal source of this and other related diseases is discussed through the work of Nancy Wexler, someone who may have inherited the gene but who turns to scientific work to study it in others.
Chapter 5, Environment
The concepts of pleiotropy and genetic pluralism are introduced. A brief history of the study of asthma is used as the case study. Asthma is related to as many as fifteen different genes, many on chromosome five. Specifically, this includes a change from adenosine (A) to guanine (G) at position 46 on the ADRB2 gene. The ADRB2 gene is related to the control of bronchodilation and bronchoconstriction.
Chapter 6, Intelligence
Robert Plomin's announcement in 1997 of the discovery of "a gene for intelligence" on chromosome 6 is the foundation for this chapter's lengthier discussion of the genetic basis for intelligence. This included gene IGF2R on the long arm of chromosome 6, which may also be related to liver cancer. Ridley continues his premise in this chapter that the use of simple genetic markers is inadequate to describe the complete function of the genome, or the causation of disease.
Chapter 7, Instinct
This chapter discusses whether the form and existence of language has a genetic component. In particular, "specific language impairment" is possibly related to a gene on chromosome 7. Ridley discusses the scientific disagreement between Canadian linguist Myrna Gopnik and others on whether this disorder relates to difficulties with grammar formulation, or is a broader intellectual disorder.
Ridley contemplates evolutionary psychology using the genes SRY on the Y chromosome, and DAX1 and Xq28 on the X chromosome. The theory of genetic conflict and evolution is debated using the rhetorical question, are we bodies containing genes, or genes in bodies?
For chromosome 9, the book examines the discussion of the blood-typing genetic sequences. Namely, the ABO blood groups and their impact on evolution are discussed. Other genes mentioned include CFTR for cystic fibrosis. Ridley concludes that the Human Genome Project is largely based on the inaccurate belief that there is one single human genome. Proof that this is wrong comes from answering the question, which of the several choices of blood typing genetic sequence is selected, since each one has different disease-resistant and evolutionary consequences?
Ridley describes the relationship between the development of Indo-European and other ancient root languages and the classical polymorphisms which map genetic frequencies in Eurasia. The interplay between the breast cancer genes BRCA2 on chromosome 13 and BRCA1 on chromosome 17 help to illustrate these larger concepts. Ridley also describes genetic studies of different types of peoples to isolate why people developed a mutation allowing adults to digest lactase in adulthood. He concludes that since the herding tribes of the world all evolved this mutation earliest, these people's genes adapted to their environment. This may sound like Lamarck's tale of the blacksmith's strong arms 'handed down' to his sons, but it is not. The controversial conclusion is that willed action can alter our evolutionary history and genetic composition, by changing the environment to which we have to adapt.
Chapter 14, Immortality
This chapter examines the so-called "immortality" of the genetic code - i.e. how is it that genetic code can remain as precise as it has been for 50 billion copyings since the dawn of life? Part of the answer is in the protein enzyme telomerase, lying on chromosome 14 and coded by the gene TEP1.
Chapter 15, Sex
Ridley discusses two chromosome 15 genetic diseases, Prader-Willi syndrome and Angelman's syndrome: Prader-Willi inherited from the father, Angelman's from the mother, through sexual antagonism and the placenta's control by paternal genes.
Chapter 16, Memory
Ridley debates the old knowledge versus instinct problem, claiming that natural selection will be the explanation of the instinct for grammar, and noting that many animals including invertebrates can learn. All the same, he argues that the brain is controlled by genes and gene products.
Chapter 17, Death
The TP53 gene on chromosome 17 suppresses cancer cells, while oncogenes stimulate cell growth and can cause cancer if kept switched on, while TP53 can cause cancer when kept switched off. Other mutator genes like BRCA1 and BRCA2 contribute to breast cancer.
Chapter 18, Cures
Recombinant DNA enabled genetic manipulation with restriction enzymes and a ligase. Genetic engineering has been highly controversial, especially in food production; it might, writes Ridley, one day be used in humans.
Chapter 19, Prevention
It might be possible to prevent or cure Alzheimer's disease and coronary heart disease. APO genes like APOE influence fat and cholesterol metabolism. The E4 allele of EPOE contributes to the plaque buildup of Alzheimer's. Genetic testing may help patients take early preventative action.
Chapter 20, Politics
The sheep brain disease scrapie appeared to be infectious but did not involve a microorganism. The disaster of Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease in humans was found to be caused by the PRP gene which produces a prion protein that aggregates into clumps, destroying brain cells. Ridley attacks the panicky handling of prion disease outbreaks by governments.
Chapter 21, Eugenics
Eugenics a century ago, based on faulty knowledge of genetics, led to immoral actions by governments and the US Supreme Court, pushing through compulsory sterilization of people such as those with trisomy 21 which causes Down syndrome. Ridley discusses the conflict between society, in the form of the state, and the individual.
Chapter 22, Free Will
Ridley addresses the heated debate between genetic determinism and freedom. Children are moulded both by their peers (other children) and by their genes. He argues that behaviour is in the short term unpredictable, but "broadly" predictable in the long term.
Reception
Genome has been reviewed in scientific journals including Nature[1] and in medical journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, where Robert Schwartz notes that Ridley speculates, "sometimes wildly".[7] The book is a "gambol" through the human chromosomes. All the same, Schwartz writes, the book is "instructive, challenging, and fun to read. I envy Ridley's talent for presenting, without condescension, complex sets of facts and ideas in terms comprehensible to outsiders."[7]
Lee M. Silver, reviewing Genome in The New York Times, argues that the book's theme is that each individual's genome contains "echoes" (Ridley's word) of their ancestors' lives. Silver calls Ridley "adamant" in believing that the use of "personal genetics" must not be left for doctors or governments to control, following on from the mistakes of eugenics a century ago, but that it's a fundamental human right to "see and use the messages in their own DNA as they see fit." Silver describes the book as remarkable for focusing on "pure intellectual discovery", providing "delightful stories". He suggests that even practising geneticists will gain a sense of wonder from the "hidden secrets" in the book.[2]
The biologist Jerry Coyne, writing in the London Review of Books, criticises Genome as "at once instructive and infuriating. For each nugget of science, Ridley also includes an error or misrepresentation. Some of these derive from poor scholarship: others from his political agenda."[3] For example, Coyne mentions Ridley's incorrect claim that "half of your IQ is inherited";[3] that Ridley assumes that the marker used by Robert Plomin, IGF2R, is the purported "intelligence gene"[3] that it marks; and that social influences on behaviour [always] work by switching genes on and off, something that Coyne states is "occasionally true".[3] Coyne argues that Ridley is an "implacable"[3] genetic determinist, denying the influence of the environment, and calling his politics "right-wing".[3] He calls the book's structure "eccentric"[3] and "bizarre",[3] the chapters matching the 23 pairs of human chromosomes, and notes that Genome is the third of Ridley's books that "tries to popularise" evolutionary psychology.[3]
The science writer Michael Shermer finds Ridley's technique "at once clever and delimiting: Each chapter represents a chromosome, for which he has chosen a single entity supposedly determined or influenced by that chromosome."[8] In Shermer's view, "It is a facile literary device to help readers get their minds around this illimitable subject, but I fear that it gives the wrong impression, disclaimers notwithstanding, that such things as intelligence, instinct, or self-interest are wholly located on that chromosome (and, therefore, genetically programmed and biologically determined)."[8]
Awards and distinctions
Genome was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2000.[9]
Related Research Articles
Eugenics is a set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or promoting those judged to be superior. In recent years, the term has seen a revival in bioethical discussions on the usage of new technologies such as CRISPR and genetic screening, with heated debate around whether these technologies should be considered eugenics or not.
Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms. It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar working in the 19th century in Brno, was the first to study genetics scientifically. Mendel studied "trait inheritance", patterns in the way traits are handed down from parents to offspring over time. He observed that organisms inherit traits by way of discrete "units of inheritance". This term, still used today, is a somewhat ambiguous definition of what is referred to as a gene.
In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA. The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding genes, other functional regions of the genome such as regulatory sequences, and often a substantial fraction of junk DNA with no evident function. Almost all eukaryotes have mitochondria and a small mitochondrial genome. Algae and plants also contain chloroplasts with a chloroplast genome.
In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA or viral replication, mitosis, or meiosis or other types of damage to DNA, which then may undergo error-prone repair, cause an error during other forms of repair, or cause an error during replication. Mutations may also result from insertion or deletion of segments of DNA due to mobile genetic elements.
The human genome is a complete set of nucleic acid sequences for humans, encoded as DNA within the 23 chromosome pairs in cell nuclei and in a small DNA molecule found within individual mitochondria. These are usually treated separately as the nuclear genome and the mitochondrial genome. Human genomes include both protein-coding DNA sequences and various types of DNA that does not encode proteins. The latter is a diverse category that includes DNA coding for non-translated RNA, such as that for ribosomal RNA, transfer RNA, ribozymes, small nuclear RNAs, and several types of regulatory RNAs. It also includes promoters and their associated gene-regulatory elements, DNA playing structural and replicatory roles, such as scaffolding regions, telomeres, centromeres, and origins of replication, plus large numbers of transposable elements, inserted viral DNA, non-functional pseudogenes and simple, highly repetitive sequences. Introns make up a large percentage of non-coding DNA. Some of this non-coding DNA is non-functional junk DNA, such as pseudogenes, but there is no firm consensus on the total amount of junk DNA.
The Y chromosome is one of two sex chromosomes in therian mammals and other organisms. Along with the X chromosome, it is part of the XY sex-determination system, in which the Y is the sex-determining because it is the presence or absence of Y chromosome that determines the male or female sex of offspring produced in sexual reproduction. In mammals, the Y chromosome contains the SRY gene, which triggers development of male gonads. The Y chromosome is passed only from male parents to male offspring.
Genetic testing, also known as DNA testing, is used to identify changes in DNA sequence or chromosome structure. Genetic testing can also include measuring the results of genetic changes, such as RNA analysis as an output of gene expression, or through biochemical analysis to measure specific protein output. In a medical setting, genetic testing can be used to diagnose or rule out suspected genetic disorders, predict risks for specific conditions, or gain information that can be used to customize medical treatments based on an individual's genetic makeup. Genetic testing can also be used to determine biological relatives, such as a child's biological parentage through DNA paternity testing, or be used to broadly predict an individual's ancestry. Genetic testing of plants and animals can be used for similar reasons as in humans, to gain information used for selective breeding, or for efforts to boost genetic diversity in endangered populations.
Gene duplication is a major mechanism through which new genetic material is generated during molecular evolution. It can be defined as any duplication of a region of DNA that contains a gene. Gene duplications can arise as products of several types of errors in DNA replication and repair machinery as well as through fortuitous capture by selfish genetic elements. Common sources of gene duplications include ectopic recombination, retrotransposition event, aneuploidy, polyploidy, and replication slippage.
In genetics, chromosome translocation is a phenomenon that results in unusual rearrangement of chromosomes. This includes balanced and unbalanced translocation, with two main types: reciprocal, and Robertsonian translocation. Reciprocal translocation is a chromosome abnormality caused by exchange of parts between non-homologous chromosomes. Two detached fragments of two different chromosomes are switched. Robertsonian translocation occurs when two non-homologous chromosomes get attached, meaning that given two healthy pairs of chromosomes, one of each pair "sticks" and blends together homogeneously.
Human genetics is the study of inheritance as it occurs in human beings. Human genetics encompasses a variety of overlapping fields including: classical genetics, cytogenetics, molecular genetics, biochemical genetics, genomics, population genetics, developmental genetics, clinical genetics, and genetic counseling.
Hereditarianism is the doctrine or school of thought that heredity plays a significant role in determining human nature and character traits, such as intelligence and personality. Hereditarians believe in the power of genetics to explain human character traits and solve human social and political problems. Hereditarians adopt the view that an understanding of human evolution can extend the understanding of human nature.
A genetic predisposition is a genetic characteristic which influences the possible phenotypic development of an individual organism within a species or population under the influence of environmental conditions. In medicine, genetic susceptibility to a disease refers to a genetic predisposition to a health problem, which may eventually be triggered by particular environmental or lifestyle factors, such as tobacco smoking or diet. Genetic testing is able to identify individuals who are genetically predisposed to certain diseases.
Medical genetics is the branch of medicine that involves the diagnosis and management of hereditary disorders. Medical genetics differs from human genetics in that human genetics is a field of scientific research that may or may not apply to medicine, while medical genetics refers to the application of genetics to medical care. For example, research on the causes and inheritance of genetic disorders would be considered within both human genetics and medical genetics, while the diagnosis, management, and counselling people with genetic disorders would be considered part of medical genetics.
Genetic analysis is the overall process of studying and researching in fields of science that involve genetics and molecular biology. There are a number of applications that are developed from this research, and these are also considered parts of the process. The base system of analysis revolves around general genetics. Basic studies include identification of genes and inherited disorders. This research has been conducted for centuries on both a large-scale physical observation basis and on a more microscopic scale. Genetic analysis can be used generally to describe methods both used in and resulting from the sciences of genetics and molecular biology, or to applications resulting from this research.
The Human Genome Project (HGP) was an international scientific research project with the goal of determining the base pairs that make up human DNA, and of identifying, mapping and sequencing all of the genes of the human genome from both a physical and a functional standpoint. It started in 1990 and was completed in 2003. It remains the world's largest collaborative biological project. Planning for the project started after it was adopted in 1984 by the US government, and it officially launched in 1990. It was declared complete on April 14, 2003, and included about 92% of the genome. Level "complete genome" was achieved in May 2021, with a remaining only 0.3% bases covered by potential issues. The final gapless assembly was finished in January 2022.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to genetics:
Cognitive genomics is the sub-field of genomics pertaining to cognitive function in which the genes and non-coding sequences of an organism's genome related to the health and activity of the brain are studied. By applying comparative genomics, the genomes of multiple species are compared in order to identify genetic and phenotypical differences between species. Observed phenotypical characteristics related to the neurological function include behavior, personality, neuroanatomy, and neuropathology. The theory behind cognitive genomics is based on elements of genetics, evolutionary biology, molecular biology, cognitive psychology, behavioral psychology, and neurophysiology.
Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors is a non-fiction book by Nicholas Wade, a science reporter for The New York Times. It was published in 2006 by the Penguin Group. By drawing upon research on the human genome, the book attempts to piece together what Wade calls "two vanished periods": the five million years of human evolution from the development of bipedalism leading up to behavioural modernity around 50,000 years ago, and the 45,000 subsequent years of prehistory.
Epigenetics of human development is the study of how epigenetics effects human development.
The Gene: An Intimate History is a book written by Siddhartha Mukherjee, an Indian-born American physician and oncologist. It was published on 17 May 2016 by Scribner. The book chronicles the history of the gene and genetic research, all the way from Aristotle to Crick, Watson and Franklin and then the 21st century scientists who mapped the human genome. The book discusses the power of genetics in determining people's well-being and traits. It delves into the personal genetic history of Siddhartha Mukherjee's family, including mental illness. However, it is also a cautionary message toward not letting genetic predispositions define a person or their fate, a mentality that the author says led to the rise of eugenics in history.
1 2 Schwartz, Robert S. (2000). "Book Review Genome: The autobiography of a species in 23 chapters". New England Journal of Medicine. 342: 1763. doi:10.1056/NEJM200006083422321.
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