This joker Connor has been largely a dupe for DNA-worshippers.
Here he is at it again.
        Nowhere in the article is any hint of how a 'gene map' could show
any way.

         I've interpolated what I view as the main comments deserved by
this propaganda.

R


http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article299270.ece

>Gene 'maps' show way to beat killer diseases
>
>By Steve Connor, Science Editor
>
>Published: 15 July 2005
>
>
>Three of the most devastating diseases of the developing world could
>soon

        I strenuously object to this word.  Sequences of DNA offer medicine
nothing soon


> be eradicated

        Again, outrageous hype not supported by anything in the article.
Even if some reason were shown to expect some anti-pathogen method based on
DNA sequences of trypanosomes, *eradication* is mere fantasy.


> after a breakthrough in understanding how they are programmed to be human
>parasites.
>
>Scientists have decoded the genetic blueprints of the parasitic microbes
>responsible for African sleeping sickness, Chagas disease and
>Leishmaniasis, which collectively affect up to 30 million people and
>endanger the lives of a further 500 million.
>
>Knowing the precise sequence of genetic "letters" that make up the
>alphabet of the microbes' genes >should now

        oh really?  why should it, when similar lines of wishful thinking
have led to very little good after billions of dollars?


> allow scientists to design effective drugs and vaccines against the three
>killers.

        sounds good, eh?  But why should it be expected to work?


>  At present, there are no vaccines or cheap, effective remedies against
>any of the parasites, each transmitted by the bites of different insects
>in some of the poorest countries.
>
>More than 250 scientists from 21 nations - including the Wellcome Trust
>Sanger Institute in Cambridge - helped in the £18m project to decode the
>genomes of the three single-celled organisms belonging to a family of
>parasites called trypanosomatids.
>
>Professor Najib El-Sayed, leader of a research team from the Institute for
>Genomic Research in Rockville, Maryland, said: "Thanks to these studies,
>scientists are now much closer than they were five years ago to developing
>effective drugs against these terrible diseases."
>
>African sleeping sickness is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma brucei,
>which is transmitted by the tsetse fly.  It affects many countries in
>sub-Saharan Africa and causes fevers, headaches, joint pains and itching,
>followed by debilitating infection of the brain and central nervous system.
>
>Chagas disease is caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, which is transmitted in the
>bite of a blood-sucking bug that thrives in the cracks and crevices of
>poor housing in South America.  Over many decades, patients suffer severe
>damage to their internal organs, including the heart and intestines.  The
>final microbe to be
>decoded is Leishmaniasis

        Steve wouldn't care, but that's the name of a disease caused by the
microbes _Leishmania spp_


>, which is transmitted in the bite of tiny sand flies.  It causes severe
>skin disfiguration as well as long-term disease, fever and weight loss.
>
>The research, in the journal Science, shows that each parasite has a set
>of some 6,200 "core genes" arranged in a similar way that appear to play a
>vital role in the function of the parasitic organisms.  Peter Myler, from
>the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute said the mapping aids design of
>specific drugs that
>target one or all of the three parasites.  "Initially, we believed the
>gene organisation among the parasites would be different, but 70 per cent
>of the genes occur in the same order," Dr Myler added.
>
>"The core genome of all three is very similar, with the differences mainly
>at the end of the chromosomes.  So this tells us if we focus on the genes
>that are the same in all three, but different from humans, we have the
>potential to develop a class of drugs that can target all three diseases."

        Note the vagueness of this talk.  Is it any better than whistling
in the wind?


> Decoding the genes of the three parasites will allow scientists to
>understand how they infect people, how they cause human disease and why
>they are carried and transmitted by different insects.

        Note the utterly crude genetic determinism in this raving
propaganda.  This is unregenerate 'DNA is der Master Molekule' babble from
a decade ago.  It is staggering that such lines of talk continue to con
millions of dollars out of venture-drongos, and govts.  We've had similar
hype for a decade, esp the Human Genome Caper  -  where are the drugs or
vaccines based on that?


>George Cross, of the Rockefeller University in New York, said that
>existing drugs may even be useful against the diseases after the biology
>of the parasites was better understood through the analysis of their
>genomes.
>
>"Because of their distinct evolution, trypanosomes present a plethora of
>potential drug targets and potential drugs are almost certainly
>languishing in the chemical libraries of pharmaceutical companies," Dr
>Cross said.

        More vague hype.