2. Complete the sentences according to the text.

Biological things are … .

When we look in the cell, the first thing we see is … . It’s called … .

Big DRAM memory is packaged in … . These are called … .

Then we look around the cell, and we see there are … . They are called … . If we look further at how they work, they … .

3. Give the definitions to the following words.

1. DNA

2. mitochondria

3. chromosomes

4. Answer the questions.

1. How many chromosomes has DNA?

2. What size have chromosomes?

3. Are these forty-eight chromosomes significant?

4. How big is DNA?

5. What memory is biggest, the memory of the computer or the memory of the human cell?

IV. Speaking

Imagine that you are the tour guide and we take a tour of a biological computing facility. Describe the parts of human cell.

Unit 7

Cloning technology

I. Warm up

Read and translate the following quotation.

Cloning for transplant may produce fatal genetic imbalances.

(Steve Connor)

What do you know about transplant?

What do you think is cloning technology important for our life?

II. Vocabulary focus

1. Useful words for learning.

still-born - мертворожденный

to suffer from - страдать от чего-л.

prematurely - преждевременно

flaw - порок

purpose - назначение, намерение, цель

tissue - ткань

male - мужчина; мужской, мужского пола; самец

female - женщина; женский, женского пола; самка

reproduction - репродуцирование, размножение

pregnancy - беременность

2. Don’t miss the chance to enrich your vocabulary!

Translate these word combinations with the word gene into Russian.

gene pool - генофонд, совокупность наследственных факторов популяции

rate gene - ген, контролирующий развитие и рост клеток

to transfer / transplant genes - …

to cut genes - …

to splice genes - …

gene bank - …

dominant / recessive gene - …

chromosomal gene - …

epistatic gene - …

jumping gene - …

maternal / paternal gene - …

mutafacient gene - …

structural gene - …

3. Match each component in Column 1 with equivalent from Column 2. Learn these word combinations with the word genetic.

1. genetic consultation a) генетическая опасность

2. genetic relatives (syn: blood relatives) b) генетически обусловленная недостаточность

3. genetic control c) генетический код

4. genetic code d) генетический контроль

5. genetic disease e) генная инженерия

6. genetic deficiency f) кровные родственники

7. genetic hazard g) медико-генетическая консультация

8. genetic engineering h) наследственная болезнь

9. genetic drift i) случайное распространение генетических мутаций в популяции

III. Reading

1. Read the text and translate it into Russian.

American scientists have discovered that cloning produces genetic imbalances, which could explain why so many cloned animals are stillborn or suffer from medical problems after birth and die prematurely. The same flaws could also jeopardise the use of stem cells derived from cloned human embryos produced for “therapeutic” purposes. The resulting tissues would be too defective to repair damaged organs, the scientists said. “Currently, cloning technology is immature and shouldn’t be expanded out to humans,” said assistant professor of developmental biology. “It’s bad news at the moment for therapeutic cloning but it’s good news in that we’re realising what needs to be overcome,” she said. The study, published in the journal Nature Genetics, examined 10 genes on the X chromosomes of 10 cloned female calves, six of which had died either in the womb or soon after birth. They looked at a process called X-chromosome inactivation. This normally results in one of the two X chromosomes of females being switched off so that the cells of females have the same number of genes switched on as males, who have only one X chromosome. The scientists found that nine out of 10 genes for the dead clones were abnormal in the way they were activated. They also found that this pattern of activation differed from one cloned animal to another, indicating the random nature of the process. There were no such abnormalities in gene activation in the clones that had lived and in female calves resulting from normal sexual reproduction. During normal animal development only the X chromosome inherited from the mother is activated in the placenta, but the study showed that both X chromosomes were active in the placentas of the dead cows. This might explain why the placentas of cloned animals are often bigger than normal and why some cloned foetuses are abnormally large and why some 80-percent of cloned animals died during pregnancy or soon after birth.

Notes:

clone (n) – 1) клон, потомство живых организмов, являющееся полной их копией: двойник, абсолютная копия; 2) зомби, андроид

clone (v) – клонировать; размножать / размножаться вегетативным или клеточным путем

to jeopardize – подвергать опасности, рисковать

to derive from – получать, извлекать

to expand out – расширять(ся)

womb – матка

random- случайный

to inherit from – унаследовать