To the secrets of the living (perspectives of genetics)

The successes of modern biology are mainly associated with that branch of it, which is called molecular biology. Particularly striking results have been achieved in the study of heredity - the properties of organisms, which for a long time remained mysterious. Scientists managed to reveal the nature of the gene. For centuries it seemed to be something mystical, almost non-existent. And it turned out to be a very real chemical structure - a certain piece of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), which is the carrier of genetic information.

The genetic code has been deciphered - a way of recording hereditary genetic information that nature has chosen. We know: a person uses different ways of recording information. Mechanical - in books, individual letters, words, phrases, they are printed on machines, we get them in the form of prints. The magnetic method of recording information is used in electrical engineering. There is an optical one - in various video devices. But nature has chosen a completely different way - the genetic code. It is now known that the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecule is composed of separate, relatively simple chemical structures. There are only four varieties of them. Imagine an alphabet of four letters that can be used to write all the variety of words and concepts. So it is here: the alternation of four elementary structures in a molecule of deoxyribonucleic acid is a record of hereditary, genetic information.

Scientists have investigated the magnetism of genetic processes. Now we know that all the rearrangements that occur in DNA (and it is these rearrangements that lead to a change in the hereditary properties of organisms) are carried out with the help of biological catalysts - enzymes. Under a microscope, the simplest rearrangements seem to be purely mechanical: they took, for example, a stick, which looks like a thread-like DNA molecule, and broke it, and then somehow they fixed it again. In fact, everything is more complicated ... There are special enzymes that make this break in the DNA molecule, and other enzymes that sew the thread. This also happens with other genetic rearrangements. A huge number of enzymes have been discovered that are involved in the synthesis of nucleic acids, in various rearrangements of their molecules.

Much is now known about the mechanisms of chemical reactions that occur in the cell and in the whole organism. The processes of formation and use of energy have been studied. Cell bioenergy is very complex. In technology, we are dealing with the conversion of thermal energy. Heat energy cannot be used in the cage. Mainly used is chemical energy, which is converted into mechanical energy, for example, during muscle contraction, spent on the movement of nutrients, and the like.

Great advances have been made in the study of proteins, nucleic acids, and various intracellular structures. The accumulation of knowledge proceeds at a variable rate. All these are discoveries of the last 50 years, and if we talk about the most important - then 25 years. They created modern biology, helped us come close to the knowledge of the innermost secrets of the living.

The striving for knowledge of the surrounding world is an eternal and wonderful ability of a person. Science obtains knowledge - this is its purpose. But people have the right to expect practical benefits from fundamental research, from the knowledge of the laws of nature. Probably, we can talk about two forms of practical use of knowledge - visible and invisible.

What is obvious to us? The development of genetics made it possible to create new breeds of domestic animals, to develop new varieties of plants. The green revolution that has taken place is a direct result of genetic research.Knowledge of the structure of natural biologically active compounds helped chemistry to synthesize many drugs, without which modern medicine cannot be imagined.

Today, in our country and in other countries of the world, there is an extensive industry that uses microbiological methods for the synthesis of organic compounds. In this way, for example, a microbial protein is obtained. Yeast is grown on petroleum hydrocarbons, alcohol is likely to be grown on some gases like methane or hydrogen in the near future. And from yeast, a complete protein is obtained, which is used as feed for farm animals.

All this is visible to everyone. But what is meant by "invisible"? These are the ideas that are generated by fundamental science. Within the laboratory where these ideas arise, they may not be directly translated into practice. But through the system of higher education and in other ways, ideas become the property of many, and especially specialists who work in agriculture, medicine, and industry. And there the golden fund of knowledge bears fruit. This process is sometimes difficult even to trace, let alone quantify, it resembles a stream that goes underground, absorbs other waters there and then, somewhere in the distance, comes out in the form of a stream much more powerful than that trickle. that gave him life.

The idea of ​​preventing infectious diseases by vaccinations originated at first as a simple laboratory technique in the study of the physiology of microorganisms. It took time and efforts of many practitioners to create a variety of vaccines, a whole system of government measures to prevent infectious diseases - vaccinations, say, against smallpox, against tuberculosis, against polio. And no one remembers anymore that it all began with a laboratory, with a test tube. Another example. The huge industry of antibiotics and their use for the treatment of many diseases originated from the humble observation of the English microbiologist Fleming, who accidentally noticed that the liquid in which he grew the mold was inhibiting the growth of microbes.

Let me draw your attention to several tasks that modern life has set for our science. First of all, we are talking about the use of biological methods to preserve the environment. Take pesticides. Many of them have a detrimental effect on the living world. But in principle, you can create other pesticides. They would destroy pests, but would not have a harmful effect on birds and beneficial insects, simply because these chemical compounds would have a very short life span and would act on a limited range of organisms. Or something else. Oil production is expanding significantly not only on land, but also in the sea. In this regard, there is a great danger of pollution by oil and its products of the World Ocean. For cleaning, you can very effectively use microorganisms that feed on oil and destroy it at the same time.

Biologists must determine the degree of danger to the environment and humans of certain industrial production, the waste of which enters the atmosphere, water, and soil. Paying attention to harmful effects, determining their size - means taking the first step towards their elimination. Indeed, very often the adverse consequences of management for nature are primarily associated with our ignorance. This was the case, by the way, with pesticides - then people simply did not imagine the extent of those negative phenomena to which their widespread use could lead.

Humanity has the right to expect from biology the solution of such important problems as the fight against cancer and hereditary diseases. So far, there are only certain possibilities, calculations, and hopes. But, judging by how quickly science is developing today, the time is not far away when some effective methods can be proposed to combat these diseases.

One more question.All chemical processes in the body are enzymatic. They go with the help of so-called biological catalysts - enzyme proteins. In the chemical industry, catalysts are also used - accelerators of reactions, but they are not organic, at least not protein substances. There is no need to specifically say that biochemical processes take place in milder conditions, they are much more effective. Probably, in the near future, a person will begin to use more widely those chemical reactions that occur in the body, and for industrial purposes. The future of technology is undoubtedly associated with biology.

We are busy now with the problems of genetic engineering. This is a new direction in molecular biology, it has existed for less than five years - a very short period for science. But this direction is extremely interesting and promising. The goal of genetic engineering is to create artificially, in the laboratory, new genetic structures. Having deciphered the genetic code, having studied the mechanisms of various genetic transformations, having learned to isolate enzymes that carry out genetic rearrangements of DNA, scientists were able to set themselves such a task.

No matter how modest these experiments may seem, the fact remains irrefutable: for the first time, man was able to combine in a test tube into a single whole genetic structures that exist separately in nature. Their merger was not the result of a random collision of molecules, but was the result of a conscious choice and a well-thought-out plan. In the end, the new in science and technology often appears in a very modest form and is not always even correctly assessed from the very beginning. The laws of genetics, for example, established by G. Mendel, were not noticed by contemporaries, and they had to be rediscovered 40 years later.

What prospects does genetic engineering open up, what does it promise us?

A lot of things. First of all, in medicine, in the fight against hereditary diseases. As a rule, they are associated with defects in one of the thousands of genes that are found in the human body. Genetic engineering, in principle, allows any gene to be made in the laboratory. And having received a gene, we can get the product of the work of this gene and use it to compensate for a hereditary defect with the help of gene therapy - the creation, so to speak, of a genetic prosthesis.

Genetic engineering techniques can also be used to produce hormones. Most likely, insulin will soon be produced in this way. Instead of receiving it in the slaughterhouse from pigs or cattle, it will be obtained in bacterial culture. By imposing foreign genes on microorganisms, we can force them to produce the necessary hormone in almost unlimited quantities.

Naturally, these are not the only applications of genetic engineering. Gene therapy seems to be out of fantasy. Almost no gene has yet been obtained to treat disease. But the experience of recent decades has shown how quickly research develops if it is based on the correct theory and carried out using reliable methods. Therefore, I will say: this fantasy is not groundless. This is not even a fantasy, but real measurements, the tasks that we face and which will be solved in a fairly near future.

Can the negative consequences of progress be prevented? They can be prevented. In fact, what are they connected with? As a rule, with the incompleteness of our knowledge, with the fact that we cannot always fully assess and foresee possible results. If not all the consequences can be foreseen in advance, it is necessary to assess them on the maximum scale and take all precautions in advance.

Work is underway to eliminate a number of harmful effects. At industrial enterprises, the construction of treatment facilities has been widely developed, control over effluents and emissions into the atmosphere has become stricter, and closed production cycles are being created.Chemists are working on "harmless" pesticides, synthetic materials are being created that will "breathe", and much more.

There is a kind of dialectic in this: advances in science will help eliminate the harmful consequences of scientific and technological progress. Now scientists are working on the problem of biological nitrogen fixation. What's the point? The use of nitrogenous fertilizers is undoubted progress. They benefit the fields and increase yields. But mineral nitrogen also has its negative consequences - nitrogenous compounds are washed out into water bodies, causing the development of unwanted flora there, which worsens the composition of the water. Can you do without fertilizers? Of course, not at all with intensive farming, but it is possible to reduce their use. It is known that legumes (soybeans, for example) assimilate nitrogen from the air. There are small balls on their roots - colonies of bacteria living in symbiosis with plants. They have the ability to bind atmospheric nitrogen and convert it into a form that soy can easily absorb.

If microorganisms are found that can inhabit the roots of cereals and bind atmospheric nitrogen, it will be possible to apply less fertilizer to the soil. What tremendous savings this promises, how it will help the conservation of nature! In what directions are the searches going? And on traditional ones - by selection. And through genetic engineering. Imagine: we transfer the genes for assimilating atmospheric nitrogen from nodule bacteria into other bacteria that could live in symbiosis with wheat or even in the leaves of cereals ...

Much can be solved not by small improvements to existing methods, be it technical or agricultural methods, but by fundamental changes, thanks to fundamentally new discoveries. This is the future. Humanity has not exhausted ways to prevent the negative consequences associated with the development of society.

A. Baev

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