While reading the book Genome by Matt Ridley, I started to hone in on some of the key topics and main ideas to take away from this novel. It was a very interesting read that introduced new ideas to me. Many of the ideas in the book applied directly to our Biology class. Some topics that were covered in lecture can be directly applied to the book. Matt Ridley talks about many important things in his novel; however, I feel as if the chapters of life, species, and environment are the most relatable to lecture as well as our biology class as a whole.
First and foremost, Ridley addresses life in his first chapter. This chapter consisted of the evolution of RNA to DNA. RNA was first on this planet Earth and it was the creator of life. On the opposition, …show more content…
He discusses how chimps and humans both have the same 23 Chromosomes in their body. This alludes to how human’s evolved from monkeys and other primates. With all of the similarities between humans and primates, it almost seems as if evolving from primates was the only way humans came to this earth. The genetic difference from individual humans is known to be about 0.1% (Genetic Evidence). The genetic difference is very minuscule in the grand scheme of everything. However, when comparing the bonobo (a close relative of the chimpanzees) to humans, the two have a 1.2% genetic difference (Genetic Evidence). This is important because it really shows all the similarities we share with these primates. For example, Ridley discusses how humans and chimpanzees have the same bone structure and the same exact bones as humans. This was extremely interesting portion of this chapter because we have all these similarities, but I wonder why primates look completely different than humans do. Although primates are human’s closest relative, looking at the two side by side one would have no idea the genetic similarity is so great. A team researched this issue and compared segments of DNA (Lewis). It showed that a type of cell eventually lead to bone and facial structure which groups of these genes change in different ways showing how humans and chimpanzees create and generate different facial pattern from one another (Lewis). A …show more content…
It discusses how dopamine is in chromosome 11, and it activates the person’s mind and gets it going. It then discusses D4DR, a gene on the chromosome that is process in making dopamine (Ridley). The more of D4DR then a lesser degree of dopamine, and the less of it then a greater degree of dopamine. Ridley then brings up serotonin as well, and he discusses that it is related to dopamine. The less serotonin in a person means that he or she will act on impulse as opposed to the genes with a greater serotonin level. In lecture, we discussed that serotonin is an amino acid. I never knew that it was an amino acid. However, since this book debuted, there has been some advances in serotonin. In 2004, there had been recent studies that have confirmed that serotonin can help cardiovascular disease. This ultimately will benefit people who might risk heart failure. (Cote F). This has tremendously changed since three years ago when the book published and clearly shows advance in serotonin which ultimately falls back on the 11 chromosome as discussed
First and foremost, Ridley addresses life in his first chapter. This chapter consisted of the evolution of RNA to DNA. RNA was first on this planet Earth and it was the creator of life. On the opposition, …show more content…
He discusses how chimps and humans both have the same 23 Chromosomes in their body. This alludes to how human’s evolved from monkeys and other primates. With all of the similarities between humans and primates, it almost seems as if evolving from primates was the only way humans came to this earth. The genetic difference from individual humans is known to be about 0.1% (Genetic Evidence). The genetic difference is very minuscule in the grand scheme of everything. However, when comparing the bonobo (a close relative of the chimpanzees) to humans, the two have a 1.2% genetic difference (Genetic Evidence). This is important because it really shows all the similarities we share with these primates. For example, Ridley discusses how humans and chimpanzees have the same bone structure and the same exact bones as humans. This was extremely interesting portion of this chapter because we have all these similarities, but I wonder why primates look completely different than humans do. Although primates are human’s closest relative, looking at the two side by side one would have no idea the genetic similarity is so great. A team researched this issue and compared segments of DNA (Lewis). It showed that a type of cell eventually lead to bone and facial structure which groups of these genes change in different ways showing how humans and chimpanzees create and generate different facial pattern from one another (Lewis). A …show more content…
It discusses how dopamine is in chromosome 11, and it activates the person’s mind and gets it going. It then discusses D4DR, a gene on the chromosome that is process in making dopamine (Ridley). The more of D4DR then a lesser degree of dopamine, and the less of it then a greater degree of dopamine. Ridley then brings up serotonin as well, and he discusses that it is related to dopamine. The less serotonin in a person means that he or she will act on impulse as opposed to the genes with a greater serotonin level. In lecture, we discussed that serotonin is an amino acid. I never knew that it was an amino acid. However, since this book debuted, there has been some advances in serotonin. In 2004, there had been recent studies that have confirmed that serotonin can help cardiovascular disease. This ultimately will benefit people who might risk heart failure. (Cote F). This has tremendously changed since three years ago when the book published and clearly shows advance in serotonin which ultimately falls back on the 11 chromosome as discussed