For more than 70 years, scientists have believed they’ve unraveled the mystery of life through genes. But is this really true?
Health Viewpoints
In 1953,
two Nobel Prize laureates, James Watson and British physicist Francis Crick, unveiled the double helix structure of DNA, marking a monumental year in biomedicine and a significant milestone in modern molecular biology.
Time flew to the year 2000, when scientists decoded nearly 3 billion chemical building blocks of human DNA, at which time Bill Clinton
announced, “Today, we are learning the language in which God created life.”
But is it true that decoding genes reveals the secrets of how humans are created by God?
The mere fact that someone has an extensive vocabulary doesn’t mean he or she can write an essay. Similarly, knowing the function of gene codes
doesn’t equate to understanding life.
Life is not a simple box in which genes control everything.
Genes Are Not the Only Control
Scientists have more recently discovered that there are many mechanisms that control our body functions other than our genes. Here are some examples.In the past, it was commonly believed that DNA provides instructions to proteins for carrying out vital life functions. However, humans make up to
several million types of proteins, and the number of protein-coding genes is only estimated to be in the range of
19,587 to 20,245.
Even though the number of proteins may vary from different sources, it is universally agreed that a gap exists between the number of genes and proteins.
This is one of the most shocking findings of the human genome project. Researchers immediately realized that the hypothesis “one gene, one protein” was inaccurate and began looking for the mechanisms.
Here’s one possible answer.
Imagine a gene as a bracelet made up of different-colored beads such as blue, green, red, or orange, arranged on a string. The protein that the gene produces is made up of a specific selection of these beads. For instance, protein A might consist of a combination of blue, red, and orange beads, while protein B could be made up of green, red, and orange beads. This process of selecting different beads to form a protein is called splicing. A single gene can have various ways of splicing, which is known as “
alternative splicing.”
Our immune system is a
great example of how our body adapts to fight new viruses. Whenever a new pathogen enters our body, our immune cells must quickly recognize and bind to it. This is where alternative splicing comes in. It’s a mechanism that allows the same set of genes in our immune cells to adapt rapidly to the changing viruses. This results in the creation of proteins that are tailor-made to fight each virus, which is truly miraculous.
What controls immune cells to change gene splicing and its end product?
Let’s talk about another example—transgenic animals.
Transgenic animals have their genes modified by scientists to
replicate certain diseases found in humans, allowing them to test new drugs.
Despite that many drugs have been successful in animal trials, translation into effective patient treatments has been disappointingly slow. Failure in an
Alzheimer’s drug is one example.
If the gene is responsible for a disease, fixing the gene should cure the patient. However, drugs that work in transgenic models may not produce the expected efficacy in humans.
Another fascinating example involves
identical twins, who share the same genetic code but can exhibit diverse characteristics and health conditions due to different life experiences and environmental factors. This phenomenon provides a unique opportunity to learn beyond genetic codes.
A
study in the European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience found that even someone whose identical twin developed schizophrenia has less than a 50 percent of developing schizophrenia, suggesting that schizophrenia is not entirely determined by genes.
Similar findings were reported in the Virginia Twin Study. The researchers interviewed more than 1,500 identical twins and discovered that a substantial number of these twins experience
different frequencies of major depression episodes throughout their lifetime.
Our moods are influenced not only by genetics, but also by our cumulative environmental experiences throughout adulthood.
Epigenetics plays a role in how twins with identical genes lead different lives.
Seeds and Soil
Epigenetics is the study of how environmental factors can modify gene expression without changing DNA; it can determine whether genes turn on or turn off.Genes can be compared to seeds, and epigenetics to the soil in which those seeds grow.
Genes in the human body do not usually change after birth. But like seeds, they can lie dormant in the soil; some will grow, and some will not. What determines whether these seeds will grow or not are the genetic “switches,” or epigenetics.
Epigenetics determines whether and how often the same genes can be expressed in different organs and at different ages.
Multiple Genes, Multiple Factors
The complex interplay among multiple genes and other pivotal factors in disease also suggests that human life is controlled by more than genetic composition.Our body is like a small universe. Once we realize we have a disease, many things have already changed.
A 2014
study published in the journal Nature by the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium compared nearly 40,000 patients with psychosis (schizophrenia) with 110,000 controls. The researchers found 108 genetic loci that are significantly associated with psychosis.
The complexity of the association between genes and disease is reflected in the large number of genes involved, leading to the question of what controls their interactions.
Many common types of diseases fall into this basket, including heart disease, diabetes, cancer, autism, depression, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease, and hundreds of other conditions—even dandruff!
A disease may be considered part of this group if it’s clearly passed down through families and also affected by environmental factors (e.g., Type 1 diabetes). It might also be included if inheriting a genetic tendency isn’t enough to determine whether someone will get the disease (e.g., Alzheimer’s disease) or whether there’s some uncertainty involved in whether the disease will develop, as seen in many inherited cancers and psychiatric disorders.
Humans Are Not Machines
At this moment, you are reading this with your eyes, processing the information with your brain, and feeling your body in your chair and the temperature in the room. You may also be aware of your bodily functions, including muscles and digestion. It’s truly remarkable how much is happening simultanesouly within our bodies every second. From the beating of our hearts to the firing of neurons in our brains, there’s always something happening inside of us.Allopathic medicine often treats humans as if they were machines—such as cars. If the tire on our car is damaged, we can replace it with a new one. If a screw is loose, we can fasten it. Similarly, doctors replace the heart with a new heart when it no longer functions. When a knee does not work, it can be replaced with an artificial knee.
Nowadays, molecular biologists can even use gene therapy to repair mutated genes with molecular scissors.
However, these medical practices come at a cost.
Replacing the heart with a new heart creates new complications. Taking drugs may relieve symptoms while creating new ones.
Numerous young boys with genetic muscular diseases didn’t die from their diseases but died from gene therapy.
There have been
young, healthy people who have died after taking a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine—a vaccine created to protect them from a disease they had little risk of dying from.
This is not to say drugs are ineffective, but it highlights the deep gap between modern biology and our fundamental understanding of life.
Russian Nesting Dolls
As scientists delve deeper in their investigation of life, they discover more layers of complexity—from organs to cells, cells to proteins, proteins to genes, and genes to epigenetics. No matter how much they learn, there will always be another layer of truth about life waiting to be discovered and inspire awe and wonder.Nobel laureate biologist
François Jacob wrote: “There is not one single organization of the living, but a series of organizations fitted into one another like nests of boxes or Russian dolls. Within each, another is hidden.
“Beyond each structure, accessible to the investigation, another structure of a higher order is revealed. ... Each level of the organization thus brought to light leads to a new way of considering the formation of living beings.”
Regardless of how proud scientists are, it is widely known that only 1 percent of the human genome has been researched, and it may be regulated by the remaining 99 percent of our DNA, known as the genome’s “
dark matter.”
It is worth noting that proteins remain largely mysterious; one example is the existence of
dark proteins whose functions are still unknown.
Time to Admit Our Limits
If genes do not tell the whole story of how life works, what does?
From a giraffe’s graceful neck to the delicate symmetry of a butterfly’s wings, from a single gene to a
germ’s filament, every living creature is a testament to thoughtful design and exquisite craftsmanship.
The human body is remarkable. From the self-repair mechanisms of our genes to the intricate dance of our cells and organs, every aspect of our biology speaks to a designer who carefully crafted us to thrive in our environment.
Let’s also not forget the interconnectedness of body, mind, and spirit, which extends beyond genetic control.
Given its complexity and beauty, the human body is more than just a random assemblage of genes, cells, and molecules.
From the intricacy of our DNA to the way our organs and systems function in harmony, it’s clear that this is not the result of chance. Every aspect of our being bears the signature of an intelligent and purposeful design and the unmistakable imprint of a Creator’s hand.
Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Epoch Health welcomes professional discussion and friendly debate. To submit an opinion piece, please follow these guidelines and submit through our form here. 
