2. Answer the questions.

1. What genetic imbalances have been discovered by American scientists?

2. What kind of flaws could jeopardize the use of stem cells derived from cloned human embryos?

3. Should cloning technology be expanded out to humans?

4. What study was published in the journal Nature Genetics?

5. What is X-chromosome inactivation?

3. Complete the sentences according to the text.

1. Cloning technology is …

2. American scientists have discovered …

3. Scientists could explain …

4. The resulting tissues would be too defective …

5. The study that was published in the journal Nature Genetics showed …

4. Give the definitions to the following words.

1. tissue

2. flaw

3. stillborn

IV. Speaking

Imagine that you are professor of developmental biology. Tell about the study that was published in the journal Nature Genetics.

Unit 8

DNA computing

I. Warm up

Read and translate the following quotation.

The merging of biology and microelectronics is at the heart of most of the coming advances.

(Glenn Zorpette and Carol Ezzell)

What is your opinion about this?

II. Vocabulary focus

1. Match each component in Column 1 with equivalent from Column 2. Useful words for learning.

1. cytosine a) ДНК-компьютинг

2. DNA computing b) гибридная машина

3. DNA in a test tube c) исследовательская группа

4. guanine d) гуанин

5. hybrid machine e) кремниевая микросхема

6. chemical base f) молекула с двойной спиралью

7. naturally occurring enzymes g) натуральные ферменты

8. nucleus h) пробирка с ДНК

9. research group i) тимин

10. silicon-based computer j) химическое основание

11. strand of DNA k) цепь ДНК

12. the double-helix molecule l) цитозин

13. thymine m) ядро

14. adenine n) аденин

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

Translate these word combinations with the word molecule into Russian.

giant molecule - макромолекула

branched molecule - молекула с разветвленной цепью

free / tie molecule - …

monoatomic molecule - …

polyatomic molecule - …

planar molecule - …

primary molecule - …

chain molecule - …

complex molecule - …

III. Reading

Read the text and translate it into Russian.

News last month that scientists had built the first programmable computer made from the molecule which carries our genes has brought the vision of computing with DNA one step nearer.

The idea of following Mother Nature's lead and using DNA to store and process information took off in 1994, when Leonard Adleman of the University of Southern California first used DNA in a test tube to solve a simple mathematical problem.

Since then a dozen research groups around the world have jumped into the field - which fuses biology and information technology - in a bid to harness the inherent ability of strands of DNA to perform trillions of calculations at the same time.

The famous double-helix molecule found in the nucleus of all cells can hold more information in a cubic centimetre than a trillion music CDs, with data stored as a code of four chemical bases - adenine, thymine, cytosine and guanine, or A, T, С and G.

These chemical “letters” like to link up with particular other ones, which means strands with complementary letters stick together (A with T, G with C). These linkages can then be “read” using naturally occurring enzymes, giving scientists a way of finding hidden patterns in complex datasets.

But harnessing DNA’s potential as a microprocessor remains a challenge and many scientists believe it will only ever complement rather than replace silicon-based computers.

“I think in the future we might have hybrid machines that use a lot of traditional silicon for normal processing tasks but have DNA coprocessors to take over specific tasks for which it is best suited,” said Martyn Amos, a lecturer at the University of Liverpool who wrote the first Ph.D. in DNA computing.

The whole field of DNA computing remains at the very early “proof-of-principle” stage but could start to become a reality in the next five to ten years, Amos believes.

Notes:

Mother Nature’s - законы природы

to take off in 1994 – появиться в 1994 году

process information – обработка информации

to fuse biology and information technology – находиться на стыке биологии и информационных технологий

inherent ability – специфическое свойство

to harness – использовать

to link up with particular other ones – соединяться друг с другом

hidden patterns – скрытые закономерности

complex datasets – сложные наборы данных

to remain a challenge – оставаться под вопросом

“proof-of-principle” stage – стадия экспериментов