Superhuman genes

Researchers suggest that we might able to borrow or activate genes to make humans a more durable species.

By John Chan

As far as we know, domestic pets and farms animals don’t exist in the wild. Most of them have been bred over many generations by hobbyists and farmers, creating breeds with desirable qualities like better milk, tastier strip loins and even better resistance to disease and harsh climates. People have also tried their hand within the human species. Look at records or royalty from centuries past and you'll see generations of inbreeding. Of course, those kings and queens didn't do it so that their princesses produced nicer breast milk, but the general principle was the same – to maintain a certain political resistance by keeping it within the family.

We know now that marrying your younger sister is not such a good idea, unless your idea of perpetuating the race is to have sickly or dim-witted children. So, for all the desirable qualities that royalty had, inter-marrying didn't make them better.

Not to worry. With better understanding of how genes work today, there's no need to resort to incestuous relationships to create a race of resilient humans. Someday, better health, longer life and nicer looks may be just a vaccine away.

Much of the focus on genetic engineering revolves around fixing people’s health issues. This is hardly a new concept. In 1990, the first approved gene therapy procedure was performed on a four-year-old to boost her immune system. More recently, UK-born Robert Johnson had a replacement gene inserted in his retina so that it could detect light properly, solving a congenital birth defect that causes his eyesight to deteriorate rapidly with age.

Whether these treatments really work is still being debated. But if developed further, they can potentially become an effective way to treat ailments.

Small but powerful

Genes are really tiny, microscopic, to be precise. This makes injecting them into human bodies non-intrusive. While it sure beats any operation that requires a scalpel, there’s the danger of rejection by the human body. As such, researchers are trying to figure out a way to "trick" the body into thinking that the genes ought to be there so they can do their jobs.

But enough about treatment; what about making people better? Using genes to enhance humans has been a mainstay of science fiction novels and comic books. Movies like Gattaca and video games such as Halo have characters that have been tweaked so they are better than the average person. As of now, there aren't any alien races or evil mutant organisations that we need to combat with genetically modified fighting soldiers. Still, there's no harm researching how we can be made to live longer.

Even if treatments using gene therapy and advanced medical science can heal us of all illnesses, we’ll still die eventually of old age. It would be audacious to say that we may one day live forever – that's crazy talk for immortality-obsessed monarchs like Qin Shi Huang. Anyway, the earth would get too crowded with so many people around. That said, if researchers are able to identify the genes that make the body more resistant to diseases that plague only the old, it may be used to prolong everyone's lifespan. Such genes may not benefit those who are already alive now, but they could be selectively implanted into foetusus, making them less prone to conditions like Alzheimer's and heart problems.

Where will it stop?

If that can be achieved, it may even be possible to pick out the genes that make someone smarter, more athletic or even better looking. These enhancements will certainly give offspring a better chance at life. It could also mean that there will be those, now considered normal, relegated to being lesser humans. It's the stuff of science fiction dystopias, where people are no longer discriminated by skin color or class status, but by the DNA found in one's body.

These things are not going to happen overnight. Heck, they probably won't happen in our lifetimes. And even if adding or changing a gene becomes viable in the next five minutes, the process would probably be useful only for conceiving the next generation and won't apply to us. That's all right. The ethical issues have yet to be ironed out anyway. How far can we go playing God? Already, these questions are being asked about the amount of genetics that farming technologies use on crops and livestock – what more for humans? Even as these questions get thrashed out, rest assured that research will continue to try to make us more superhuman-like.