One advantage of living in the modern age is genetic testing. Genetic testing can be used to tell you whether your child, your family members, or you yourself have a genetic disorder. It can also be used as evidence for crime scenes or to tell who the real parents of a child are. Some examples of these genetic tests are karyotyping and gel electrophoresis.
Karyotyping is the one that determines whether your child, your family members, or you have a genetic disorder. This test identifies and evaluates the size shape and number of chromosomes in a sample of body cells by actually taking a picture of the chromosomes. Karyotyping is usually done during or after pregnancy on newborns. A doctor can take a sample of your newborn’s blood and have the white blood cells tested because they are actively dividing. If you have this test done during pregnancy, then the sample will come from amniotic fluid collected during and amniocentesis, or it will come from a piece of the placenta collected during a chorionic villi sampling test (CVS). If there are extra, missing, or strange positions of chromosomal pieces then that usually means your newborn will have a genetic disorder. Knowing this, you will have more knowledge about your family’s chromosomal patterns.
Gel electrophoresis, also known as DNA fingerprinting, is used as evidence for crime scenes or also as a way to determine a child’s biological parents. Pieces of DNA left at a crime scene can be tested against any suspect’s DNA to see if they match. In order to do this, scientists take restriction enzymes and cut certain sequences out of the DNA from the crime scene and out of the suspect’s DNA. This makes the DNA smaller and easier to work with. They then make a gel like structure out of liquid agarose and set it inside a casting tray with a power supply. While the gel solidifies, a comb is set inside in order to make wells where the DNA samples will go into on the negative side (black side) of the power supply. “The DNA samples are mixed with a loading buffer that contains glycerol and a dye called Orange D. The glycerol makes the sample denser than water so that it will flow nicely down into the well and stay there. The dye migrates through the gel to a position approximately equal to DNA fragment of 50 base pairs” (lab packet). Once the gel is solid and the DNA samples are in the wells, the scientists turn on the power supply. DNA has a negative charge and turning on the power supply will make them “run” across the gel because they become attracted to the positive electrodes on the positive side (red side) of the power supply. The dye matches up to the DNA fragments and therefore we are able to determine how big or small the piece of DNA is and how many base pairs it is. They compare the crime scene DNA to the DNAs of the suspects and figure out which one matches. The one that matches is the one that did the crime. To identify parents of a child, the process is the same, but the mother’s DNA goes in first, then the child’s, following potential fathers’ DNAs. When the DNA is done running through the gel, they compare the child’s DNA to the mother’s and identify which bands match the mother’s. The remaining bands from the child’s DNA are then compared to the potential fathers’ DNA bands and see which ones match up. The man’s DNA that matches up with the child’s is proven to be that child’s father.
There are numerous reasons why people get genetic testing done. Some people get testing done because they want to be able to make informed decisions on whether or not they want to have kids and other life decisions. After they get genetic testing, some people realize that they will not have a long life so they will have to apply for life insurance and they should get their affairs in order such as a will. The most popular reason why people get genetic testing done is because they are simply curious. There are some people out there, though, who do not wish for genetic testing to be done on them. Some people simply cannot afford the tests. Others fear they might go into a depression because they are worried about a disease they might have, and others don’t want to feel discriminated in their jobs, insurance, and their lives because they are different than everyone else around them. Having a positive result on a serious disease (such as Huntington’s Disease) could also ruin your future plans of having children or having a spouse, and you are not allowed to adopt a child either because you will not be around long enough to take care of the adopted children. If you decide to get genetic testing done, then that is your decision and no one else has to know unless you want them to. The only way that you would have to share information is through your insurance for they might demand to see the results because they paid for the procedure.
In my opinion, I think that people should get genetic testing done; especially if they know that there is a history of genetic disorders in the family. A famous folk singer named Arlo Guthrie, son of Woody Guthrie, never got the tests done to see if he inherited the gene for HD from his father. Arlo fathered five children with knowledge of his father having HD and no knowledge of whether he has it or not. He should’ve had the tests done before having children because his children could inherit the disease and pass it to their children which make the disease known worldwide.
Karyotyping is the one that determines whether your child, your family members, or you have a genetic disorder. This test identifies and evaluates the size shape and number of chromosomes in a sample of body cells by actually taking a picture of the chromosomes. Karyotyping is usually done during or after pregnancy on newborns. A doctor can take a sample of your newborn’s blood and have the white blood cells tested because they are actively dividing. If you have this test done during pregnancy, then the sample will come from amniotic fluid collected during and amniocentesis, or it will come from a piece of the placenta collected during a chorionic villi sampling test (CVS). If there are extra, missing, or strange positions of chromosomal pieces then that usually means your newborn will have a genetic disorder. Knowing this, you will have more knowledge about your family’s chromosomal patterns.
Gel electrophoresis, also known as DNA fingerprinting, is used as evidence for crime scenes or also as a way to determine a child’s biological parents. Pieces of DNA left at a crime scene can be tested against any suspect’s DNA to see if they match. In order to do this, scientists take restriction enzymes and cut certain sequences out of the DNA from the crime scene and out of the suspect’s DNA. This makes the DNA smaller and easier to work with. They then make a gel like structure out of liquid agarose and set it inside a casting tray with a power supply. While the gel solidifies, a comb is set inside in order to make wells where the DNA samples will go into on the negative side (black side) of the power supply. “The DNA samples are mixed with a loading buffer that contains glycerol and a dye called Orange D. The glycerol makes the sample denser than water so that it will flow nicely down into the well and stay there. The dye migrates through the gel to a position approximately equal to DNA fragment of 50 base pairs” (lab packet). Once the gel is solid and the DNA samples are in the wells, the scientists turn on the power supply. DNA has a negative charge and turning on the power supply will make them “run” across the gel because they become attracted to the positive electrodes on the positive side (red side) of the power supply. The dye matches up to the DNA fragments and therefore we are able to determine how big or small the piece of DNA is and how many base pairs it is. They compare the crime scene DNA to the DNAs of the suspects and figure out which one matches. The one that matches is the one that did the crime. To identify parents of a child, the process is the same, but the mother’s DNA goes in first, then the child’s, following potential fathers’ DNAs. When the DNA is done running through the gel, they compare the child’s DNA to the mother’s and identify which bands match the mother’s. The remaining bands from the child’s DNA are then compared to the potential fathers’ DNA bands and see which ones match up. The man’s DNA that matches up with the child’s is proven to be that child’s father.
There are numerous reasons why people get genetic testing done. Some people get testing done because they want to be able to make informed decisions on whether or not they want to have kids and other life decisions. After they get genetic testing, some people realize that they will not have a long life so they will have to apply for life insurance and they should get their affairs in order such as a will. The most popular reason why people get genetic testing done is because they are simply curious. There are some people out there, though, who do not wish for genetic testing to be done on them. Some people simply cannot afford the tests. Others fear they might go into a depression because they are worried about a disease they might have, and others don’t want to feel discriminated in their jobs, insurance, and their lives because they are different than everyone else around them. Having a positive result on a serious disease (such as Huntington’s Disease) could also ruin your future plans of having children or having a spouse, and you are not allowed to adopt a child either because you will not be around long enough to take care of the adopted children. If you decide to get genetic testing done, then that is your decision and no one else has to know unless you want them to. The only way that you would have to share information is through your insurance for they might demand to see the results because they paid for the procedure.
In my opinion, I think that people should get genetic testing done; especially if they know that there is a history of genetic disorders in the family. A famous folk singer named Arlo Guthrie, son of Woody Guthrie, never got the tests done to see if he inherited the gene for HD from his father. Arlo fathered five children with knowledge of his father having HD and no knowledge of whether he has it or not. He should’ve had the tests done before having children because his children could inherit the disease and pass it to their children which make the disease known worldwide.
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