Is it all in our genes?

July 2, 2012, 12:23 pm IST in Heart Beats | Science | TOI

Hamlet famously remarked “To be or not to be. That is the question.” Let me give it a twist and ask “To be or to become. Was that the question?”

Welcome to the world of genes. And you will find the same question asked, albeit bluntly, “Is it nature or nurture?”  Little did Gregor Mendel ever envision genes to be the poster boy of medical science ever since he published the results of his investigations on the inheritance of “factors” in pea plants, way back in 1866.  Now with each little genetic discovery, the world seems to spin a huge suspense novel. No branch of science, no field of study has been as persistently revolutionary as the field of genetics. It’s like setting a bush fire. One by one, the old branches of thoughts crackle and fall as new seeds of inventions shoot new concepts hitherto unknown.

Yet, with the bludgeoning progress of genetic research comes the inevitable question. Are we overdoing it? Not just in physical attributes. We can understand diseases transmitted through genes. Diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol…the list is dangerously growing.  But what has opened the floodgate of endless debates has been the discovery of genes in every trait of human mind. Almost every faculty of human behavior seems to be coded in a gene. Uncomfortable questions arise. Are we all genetically predetermined? Then where is the scope of human progression?  And worse, what the heck is God doing here?

Let us take an example. Researchers have found that people with the “nice” version of certain genes are friendlier and more helpful to others than people with the “non-nice” version. What does this mean? Are we destined from birth to be nice or not nice? What about environment? Family? Upbringing?  As the medical world debates the possibility of either or both, more genes tumble out of an age old cupboard. There is a ‘depression gene’, clearly suggesting that some of us are more destined to be depressive. Even more shockingly, scientists have found out an ‘infidelity gene’. ..promoting inevitable desperate judgments that  promiscuity is not a function of one’s character but merely manifestation of traits  imbibed from birth.

Yet research has also shown that fraternal twins with near identical genes, when reared apart in two different environments have actually become different individuals. Thus was born another phrase of compromise….Genes load, Environment triggers. As of now let us rest on the validity of this last dictum.

But there’s another tempting question. Do humans change genetic proclivity? The grand answer is a resolute yes! From concepts in genetic study called ‘Population Bottlenecks’ and ‘Founder Effects’ we now know that humans themselves can inflict traits that can cause genetic variation.

Thus back to square one. Back to our comfort zone. Even if heckled by genetic compulsions, environments and humans can still dictate terms.  In other words, Shakespeare would have never become a surgeon. But if forced by environment he would have at least held the knife.

And God? He too remains, firm and fair. At least for the time being.

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.
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