Ahu Jia: Genetic screening before embryonic implantation can already be realized.As genetic scientists further solve the mystery of the genome, the boundary between the disease and the selection of excellent genes will become more and more blurred.
The reality is not always the dragon, Feng Shengfeng.Parents with high talents may give birth to a flat -qualified child.Ordinary parents may also have genius.
What would happen if technology can increase the chance of the latter situation?American startup Genomic Prediction claims that the company can generate genetic analysis of the embryo to predict the fetal IQ (IQ), height and disease risk.Reproductive technology usually produces multiple surviving embryos. In the end, only one or two embryos can be implanted in the uterus. Therefore, parents can choose embryos with the best genes as their babies.
It should be noted that the startup headquarters in New Jersey said that its purpose is not to create super babies. The genetic analysis of the genes of the embryo is only to discover diseases that may be very serious, such as learning obstacles, dwarfs, diabetes, and heart disease.
Other people who look at the competitive reproductive market will not be so careful.The genetic screening before embryo can be realized, although it is just to avoid a disease caused by a single gene or chromosomal deletion.As genetic scientists further solve the mystery of the genome, the boundary between the disease and the selection of excellent genes will become more and more blurred.
We are sliding to the world in the movie MDASH; MDash; not only based on health, but also based on appearance, intelligence, height, and other natural advantages.Parents may even think that choosing the best baby as much as possible is a moral responsibility mdash; mdash; not only for themselves, but also to benefit the country.The Carl Bull of the Future of Humanity Institute (Carl Shulman) and Nick Bostrom (Future of Humanity Institute); Nick Bostrom predicts in 2013 that some countries may be in orderObtain economic advantages and seek to improve the quality of the population.Incidentally, China has been analyzing the genome of the smartest students in the country for a long time.
There is a small difference between everyone's genome (full set of DNA sequence information).Sites of gene differences, that is, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPS, read as SNIPS), can be marked.If a unique monocyte nucleotide polymorphic site mode always appears at the same time as some disease (such as obesity), this mode can be roughly used as a diagnosis basis.
Today, through the genome testing company like 23andme, countless genomes are scanned every day in the world, which improves the prediction capabilities of such testing.Some genetic testing companies provide multi -gene risk scores for dementia and heart disease based on this type of test.Because the human DNA is determined during the combination of essence eggs, the multi -gene score can give adults and can also be given embryos.
To prove the feasibility of this concept, Genomic Prediction aims at this highly height characteristics of height.Using machine learning, the company conducted research on medical records (including height measurement data) and genetic data of about 500,000 British people (including height measurement data) and genetic data (these data were collected publicly for the development of precision drugs).By analyzing the connection between polymorphism and height, the company only needs to view the genome of a patient to predict the height of the patient, and the error is within 4 cm.
How about intelligence?At present, people think that innate and acquired factors will affect a person's ability to learn, reason and solve problems. Mdash; mdash; this ability is IQ.But researchers such as the Robert Bull; Robert Plomin, the Institute of Psychiatry of London, claimed that genes are the leading factor.By associating the genome of school -age children with their test results, Prove has designed a multi -gene score for intelligence (there may be 1,000 or more genes involved).
Professor Promotion believes that we are moving towards the era of precision education: when we read their DNA when children are born, we can tell our parents whether their children are scholars' materials, which will affect teaching decisions.
Such a prospect seems to be more shudder than any of the exam halls scraped by the church: the top schools in the future will ask you to attach real blood, sweat, tears, or wiping your mouth cotton swabs when submitting the application form.People of the world may point out that gene screening has already happened in the field of education: at Harvard University, the second generation of Harbin (student who graduated from Harvard) is more likely to obtain studentsAdmission.
The choice of embryo will bring personal and social costs: avoiding a multi -gene characteristic that does not want may lead to other unwanted features; children born and born may bear unrealistic expectations; this is the 21st century eugenics.
However, if the perfect parents only need to improve their children's life opportunities, although it is cold and ruthless, the choice of high IQ embryos is consistent with this concept.Children with high intelligence are more likely to become a healthy, highly educated, longevity and rich adult.
In the futuristic world of super parents, the ultimate goal may no longer be to let children stand on the most favorable starting line, but to give the best children's life.
The author is a scientific commentator
Translator/Xu Xing
