Apes vs. Man What are your thoughts??

quote:

---

Originally posted by gene90:
Couldn't we fix that rather easily with germ-line genetic therapy?

---

As it stands now, the technology might be there. However that brings up certain lines of ethical and moral question dealing with genetic tampering. The actual work wouldn't be that hard however. Simply replace the defective gene with one from an animal that can make viteman C. Scientists have already done cross species gene splicing. Insulin is a perfect example. Insulin used to be expensive, and fairly rare, considering the source was from corpses. However, human insulin is now produced in vast quatities by simple bacteria. They simply spliced in the gene , and the bacteria started producing it. It is now cheap, and widely available.
To change the DNA in a living and fully formed organism is probably difficult, if not currently possible. Perhaps in the future, a process for such modifications could be created and/or refined. I am not certain how advanced genetic engineering is right now.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Peter:
I know this is off-topic, but could you replace the defective gene
in the gametes, and produce humans who can manufacture vitamin C ?

---

You probably could. Or you could replace the gene in a fertilized egg,before division. Then the gene should activate as the fetus developed. Actually, you wouldn't need to engineer to many children with the gene to introduce the gene. A small percentage of the poplulation should be enough, and let genetic drift spread it throughout the population. Not sure if its dominate or not. That would play a huge factor in spreaded the active gene within the population.