B6: GENETIC SCREENING + GENE THERAPY

Question 1

What is genetic testing?

Answer 1

analysis of a person’s DNA to see if they carry alleles that cause genetic disorders (can be done at any stage in a person’s life)

Question 2

What 2 methods are used to carry out embryonic screening?

Answer 2

-antenatal testing
-pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD)

Question 3

Antenatal testing

Answer 3

-used to analyse a person’s DNA/chromosomes before they’re born
-offered to couples who have an increased risk of producing a baby with an inherited disorder
-can’t detect all risks of inherited disorders

Question 4

Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD)

Answer 4

-used during IVF on embryos before implantation
-embryos that don’t contain the allele causing the disorder are implanted into the uterus

Question 5

What are the benefits of embryonic screening?

Answer 5

-helps alleviate suffering from certain inherited disorders (improves success rate of IVF)
-reduces healthcare costs as treatments can be expensive
-several laws prevent it being abused by parents that may want their offspring to have specific traits

Question 6

What are the issues with embryonic screening?

Answer 6

-implies that people with genetic disorders are undesirable
-expensive
-people could take advantage of the screening process and choose to use embryos that will produce desired characteristics
-ethical issues around destruction of embryos

Question 7

What is gene therapy?

Answer 7

inserting copy of a normal allele into the chromosomes of an individual who carries a faulty allele

Question 8

How is gene therapy carried out?

Answer 8

-identify gene involved in genetic disorder
-restriction enzymes cut out the normal allele
-many copies of the allele are made
-copies of the normal working allele are put into the cells of a person who had the genetic disorder due to a mutated/faulty gene