Role Of Human GeneticsHuman genetics has become the buzz word of health care sector now-a-days. A number of advances in the medical sector can be credited to the work done in the human genetics sector. Human genetics is that area of the study of medicine, where nature of inheritance in human beings, its effects and other related areas are covered. Human Building Blocks The building blocks of human genetics are the human genes. They are the primary storage for all biological information about a human being. In order to store the vast amount of biological information huge number of genes is present in the human body. Scholars of human genetics have made various claims related to the number of genes in human body. These claims have been more or less intelligent guessing. The estimated figures have been as high as 40,000 genes, but with the knowledge we have after years of patient and eventful research in human genetics, a conventional estimate of anywhere between 20,000 to 25,000 genes can be deemed appropriate. The genes have an immense effect on human being. Genes have immense effect on the human behavior. For example there are claims that the IQ of an individual is inheritable because it is largely decided by the human genes. There have been contradictory claims as well. In the days of the beginning of study of human genetics, this belief led to a number of instances of eugenics. People, who were found to be mentally unfit, were sterilized in order to ensure that their genes do not perpetrate. Another important part of the study of human genetics constitutes of the chromosomes. There are 46 chromosomes in the human body. They reside in pairs. All in all there are 23 pairs of chromosomes. Of these 1 pair is composed of sex chromosomes. This pair decides if the human being is a male or a female. The other 22 pairs of chromosomes are called automsomes. They are non sex chromosomes. They decide other factors apart from the sex of the human being. As we know that genes are the storage units where all the biological information is stored, if anything goes wrong with the genes, it leads to serious trouble. The trouble is called a genetic disorder. One of the main reasons that the study of human genetics is being stressed by the scientific community is that it can help us cure most of the illnesses faced by the human kind. The study of human genetics has not been without its critics, the latest being the controversy over stem cell research. But the role of human genetics in the improvement of medicine sector has earned it a lot of praise and acceptance. |