In The Gno

Welcome, and thank you for reading this blog – In The Gno – where “gno” is Latin root for knowledge.  Are you a college student researching data or facts for an essay?  Maybe you are an expecting parent – in which case congratulations would be in order – and searching for information regarding heredity or genetic disorders.  You may even be a grade school or high school student, or you simply want to increase your knowledge about genes, chromosomes, and the chemistry of what makes us human.  No matter whom you are, the intent of this site is to introduce, simplify, and explore the exciting world of genetics, patterns of inheritance, and that lovely stuff called DNA!

What is DNA anyway?  As you may remember from high school biology, DNA is an acronym for that long word deoxyribonucleic acid (dee-ocks-ee-rhy-bow-noo-clay-ic acid) which is nothing more than a molecule that contains our own unique genetic code – a set of chemical instructions that tell our cells to manufacture proteins that make us look, think, feel, and behave the way we do.  There are many different versions of how to define DNA depending on where you decide to look, but this serves as a very basic, down-to-earth definition.  In technical terms, DNA is part of molecular biology, the study of life at the molecular level.  Much has already been revealed about DNA through years of scientific research, including the completion of mapping the human genome – the primary goal of the Human Genome Project.  However, there is still much to learn in the field of genetics; the amount of information that we do not know far outweighs what we do know.

Fortunately, what has already been learned about DNA and genetics lets us focus on an entire treasure chest of information including:

• Mendelian genetics and the laws of inheritance
• Genes, alleles, and human characteristics
• Chromosomes and cellular reproduction
• Genetic crosses (dating back to experimental genetics)
• Genotypes and phenotypes
• Inherited disorders and genetic testing
• Chemistry of DNA and how it is passed from parents to offspring
• Role of viruses and bacteria in DNA technology
• Gene cloning and gene therapy
• DNA analysis
• Genetically modified organisms (GMO) and what they mean to you
• Genomics (the study of whole sets of genes and their interactions)
• and much, much more…

Please check back periodically for updates to In The Gno.  If you would like to see an article about any topics or subtopics from the list above, or any other related topic not listed, feel free to let us know in our comments section.  And remember, what you “know” is not as important as what you “gno.”