Gene is the structural and functional unit of life. These basic entities are the vehicles that carry entire genetic information encoding for every function of the body. This it does so by encoding for specific amino acids. Several amino acids team up to build proteins. It is these proteins which will then be an integral part of hormones, enzymes and other essential components which will regulate the body mechanisms. In most cases one gene codes for one amino acid and several amino acids make for a single protein. Thus in the built up of a single protein which can serve as enzyme or hormone is made up by the instructions coming from a group of inter-related genes. globalnews

It is essential to understand that in the event of any alteration in the structure of gene, defective commands will be given causing the formation of wrong structure of protein. The alteration takes place by way of mutation caused due to natural aging process, environmental factors, radioactive components, ultra violet rays and others of the kind. This altered protein will not be similar to the protein desired and needed by the body to perform the required function. This means the metabolism is faulty and not taking place as required. This is externally manifested by way of a disease. finance

The natural corollary of this would be that correction in the defective make up of the gene would automatically lead to normal functioning of the body. The current motto is ‘To repair what you can and replace all that what you cannot repair’. This is now being taken care of by the break through in stem cell research and gene therapy. The repair and replacement therapy is taken care of by way of stem cell and gene therapy. It is aimed to restore the original functions and restore back to the disease-free state. wilmslowdecorators

o Stem cells are primarily taken up because they are still at the threshold of adolescence. They are active, vigorous and have the potential of being transformed into mature cells of the desired type such as the nerve cell, blood or any other tissue. The acquire forms similar to the neighboring cells in whose vicinity they fall.

o Practically this is undertaken by first boosting the production of stem cells in the bone marrow and in the connective tissue around blood vessels of the umbilical cord and the placenta. These stem cells are harvested and then injected in the organ that requires the repair. For example stem cells from the bone marrow after harvesting are injected into failing heart helps replenish its lost properties. Stem cells have helped in curing leukemia, Parkinson’s disease, lymphoma, cancers and other rare ailments. sarah-j

o Another repair and replacement technique is the gene therapy. Genetics have learnt to cut, splice and insert genes using the genetic scissors and genetic glue. Genetic scissors are the enzyme endonuclease and glue is the enzyme ligase which is capable of artificial synthesis in the laboratory. 123sporters

o The defective gene is cut using endonuclease and removed. Simultaneously the counterpart gene functioning normally is extracted in the similar fashion from another organism particularly from bacterium E.coli. The normal gene is inserted in the diseased organ and fixed using ligase. Soon the normal gene is integrated in the genome which now behaves as normal. The major bonus with this technology is that the incurable genetic disease being transcending hereditarily is cured for ever. The next generation will receive the customary gene and shall be disease free.