Artificial Selection: Making The World A Better Place

This is natrual selection......

Notice how most of them are leaning toward impeding doom!

and this is artificial selection......

Well not quite...

but it is wonderful what the principle of selection by man, that is the picking out of individuals with any desired quality, and breeding from them, and again picking out, can do. Man now can adapt living beings to his wants, making life easier without having to worry about disease killing the crops, or the cows not producing enough milk. This is one of our greatest innovations, started thousands of years ago and perfected today.

Ever since the appearance of the first life forms on our planet, organisms have influenced each other in their evolution and adaptations. They compete for sunlight, food, shelter, and mates, with the most successful passing down the knowledge of their genes to the next generation. Although relative latecomers to this scene, humans driven by their increasing need for food, shelter, clothing, beauty, and amusement, have had a very dramatic effect on the evolution of some species. Many thousands of years of evolution, combined with our current understanding of natural selection coupled with advances in biotechnology have provided us with extraordinary power to create new and useful organisms and molecules.

This could also be benificial to the enviroment. Negative selection is where negative, rather than positive, traits of a species are selected for evolutionary continuance. It is generally not desirable, but may be caused by man-made conditions such as bad management, such as when humans eat the best plants or animals they have, leading to worse and worse stock. A good example of this are regulations on fish, where fish below a certain size had to be released, leading to undersized fish populations. In the 1970’s a 500 pound marlin was not uncommon, but due to the keep of large specimens and the release of smaller fish, they have bred to small sizes, they average less than 50% of their original size today. Through artificial selection we could breed large specimens together to increase the size, making it a angler favorite again and restoring the ecosystem.

I think though, that the best use for artificial selection is in the field of medicine. Stem cell research is one area where artificial selection has applications. Stem cells are able to become any cells of the body and are a perfect match to each individual. Artificial selection allows researches to select only the best stem cells from their Petri dish. Once these stem cells are allowed to differentiate into organs, the best organs can be selected so the recipient receives the best possible benefit.

Artificial selection also offers hope to many of those with genetic conditions, like cystic fibrosis. Basically DNA therapy, in which a 'normal' (i.e. unmutated or 'wild-type') gene is placed into a virus genome (genetic makeup), and that virus introduced into the affected human after being rendered harmless. These viruses are then able to integrate the normal human DNA into the expression profile of human cells so that the missing or abnormal protein can be replaced by the correct version. Basically, they can selectively breed the best viruses that are able to make the good protein and introduce these viruses into a person so that they can function normally. DNA vaccines also work similary, where the virus makes a protein that helps to resist infection. The technology and widespread use is still in the future, but artificial selection will surely play an important role in the health of the world soon.

Drug production can also benefit from artificial selection. Some medications are made by genetically modified bacteria, as described above. Selection technology can allow laboratories to breed viruses that are able to make the compounds at the fastest rate, improving the efficiency of medicine production.

With these and many other potential applications, artificial selection is sure to increase in importance in medicine in the future. Once stem cell research and artificial selection become commonplace, the floodgates will open to a world of medical advancement and improvement in the health of thousands, if not millions, worldwide.

Sources

www.understandingevolution.com
www.blackwellpublishing.com
www.medscape.com
www.4truth.net
www.google.ca