24: The Human Genome Project as Literacy

Watson and Crick changed for all time the meaning of scientific literacy. In no previous time in history has it been more important than today for Americans to be scientifically literate. Based on the work of Watson, Crick, and others, the Human Genome Project was established as a worldwide research effort that includes the mapping of the structure of human DNA and determining the location of an estimated 20,000 to 25,000 human genes.

What is a genome anyway? A genome is the entire set of genetic information of an organism including DNA and RNA. It holds all the information for making a complete individual. Each person’s specific genome contains the genes that carry the information for determining how that person will look and sometimes even how they will behave. DNA is made up of four substances called nucleotides. Each nucleotide contains a different base: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C) or thymine (T). The entire genomic alphabet is made up of only four letters—A, T, C, and G. It can become very difficult to decipher the language of DNA as these letters are repeated millions or billions of times within a gene. It is the specific sequence of the letters (nucleotides) that make up the language (Baker, 1996).