首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Though explaining the entire human genetic blueprint is still a few years away, scientists have begun laying claim to the stretc
Though explaining the entire human genetic blueprint is still a few years away, scientists have begun laying claim to the stretc
admin
2013-03-09
16
问题
Though explaining the entire human genetic blueprint is still a few years away, scientists have begun laying claim to the stretches of DNA whose codes they have succeeded in cracking. In recent years researchers have flooded the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office with applications for thousands of genes and gene fragments — and they have stirred a lot of controversy in the process.
The biggest problem with patenting genes is that while scientists have at least a general idea of what specific strands of genetic coding do, often it’s just that — general. Investigators do sometimes succeed in isolating a single, crisp gene with a single known function. Often, however, researchers trying to map genes get no further than marking off fragmentary stretches of DNA that may be thousands of bases in length. These so-called expressed sequence tags may have real genetic information embedded in them, but determining where those fragments are and what their structure is takes more digging. Geneticists have lately been filing patent applications for these ESTs anyway. "I would guess that in many cases the scientists didn’t even examine all the material," says Bruce Lehman, commissioner of the Patent and Trademark Office.
Not only can such filings be careless genetics, they can also be bad business. EST applications may lead to so-called submarine patents, claims that are made today and then vanish, only to reappear when some unsuspecting scientist finds something useful to do with genes hidden in the patent.
More troubling is an economic issue. If the entire genetic schematic is preemptively (抢先) owned by the research teams studying it now, where is the incentive for independent scientists — often sources of great innovation — to work on it later: Licensing costs, warns Jeffrey Kahn, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Bioethics, could hold medical progress hostage. Patenting supporters insist that an equally persuasive argument could be made that the large genome-mapping groups need patent protection to make their work worthwhile to them.
Stickier than the economic question is the ethical one. Most of us shrink from the idea of anyone’s owning the rights to any part of the human form. Besides, if the first anatomist (解剖学家) to spot, say, the pancreas (胰腺) was not granted title to it, why should modern genome mapping scientist be able to claim even a single gene: That kind of argument is grounded not in law but in the very idea of what it means to be human — an issue that even the highest federal court is not likely to settle.
Which of the following is true about the expressed sequence tags?
选项
A、They are difficult to mark off.
B、They contain unidentified genetic information.
C、They contain the entire human genetic information.
D、They are genes whose specific functions have been identified.
答案
B
解析
第二段第四句中出现题干中的短语expressed sequence tags,意为“有数千个碱基构成的基因串”,从takes more digging(费力)可知,确定基因的具体信息及其结构是相当困难的,即基因串中包含难以确定或分辨的基因信息,故B项为答案。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/OwI7777K
0
大学英语六级
相关试题推荐
Inthepast,oneofthebiggestdisadvantagesofmachineshasbeentheirinabilitytoworkonamicro-scale.Forexample,doctor
Puttingfeelingsintowordsmakessadnessandangerlessintense,U.S.brainresearcherssaidonWednesday,inafindingthatex
NetworkedAutomobileI’mdrivingthrougheasternFrance,theblip-blipofthelanemarkersrunningbackwardthroughmyperip
NetworkedAutomobileI’mdrivingthrougheasternFrance,theblip-blipofthelanemarkersrunningbackwardthroughmyperip
A、Theinterviewee’sskills.B、Theinterviewee’spersonality.C、Theinterviewee’sformercolleagues.D、Theinterviewee’ssuitabil
AsToyotaandHummerhavelearned,growingtoofastcanbeadangerousthing.Fromitsorigins,successintheautoindustr
A、Whenit’shardtorecognizetheproblem.B、Whenit’simpossibletodoitbyoneself.C、Whenit’sdifficulttogetoutsidehelp
Don’tworry,behappyand,accordingtoanewresearch,youwillalsobehealthy.Itisestimatedthatoverthecourseofon
A、IntherivervalleyofEuropean.B、AlongtheDelawarerivervalley.C、AlongthemountainofAmerica.D、InaEuropeancounty.B
A、In1977.B、Intheearly1980s.C、In1980.D、In1985.B
随机试题
这个标志是何含义?
简述近岸海域环境功能区制度。
女性,30岁,因口服敌敌畏,重度中毒1小时入院,经阿托品、氯磷定等各项治疗3天后神志清醒,中毒症状缓解,体征消失。再用阿托品口服维持6天后,查全血胆碱酯酶活力仍处于80%左右,究其原因,最可能的是
(2010年)污水中的有机污染物质浓度可用COD或BOD来表示,如果以CODB表示有机污染物中可以生物降解的浓度,BODL,表示全部生化需氧量,则有:
噪声级的相加一般采用()等方法。
【2013年淄博市属文昌湖区】教育心理起源论认为教育起源于()。
被国际同行们誉为“杂交水稻之父”的人物是()。
春秋:寒暑:一年
在计数器定时查询方式下,若每次计数从[n/2]开始,则()。
某保险公司近来的一项研究表明,那些在舒适环境里工作的人比在不舒适环境里工作的人生产效率高25%。评价工作绩效的客观标准包括承办案件数和案件的复杂性。这表明:日益改善的工作环境可以提高工人的生产率。以下哪项如果为真。最能削弱以上结论?
最新回复
(
0
)