OUTLINE:
 Our basic approach - looking at the cell as a machine.
    - how does malfunction / how could you fix it!
    - how does fixing it change it (and ourselves and our culture).
   (vaccination. genetic engineering, etc.).
 
 How is this view different from non-scientific ideas of disease?
  illness as fate / punishment -- Biblical punishment.  JOB
  - blame the victim - their lifestyle choices lead to disease
    -- current in modern world of "alternative" medicine

Andrew Weil - " Sickness is the manifestation of evil in the body"
 "health is the manifestation of holiness"  "Health is wholeness".

We will follow the machine model (with the understanding that this is a very complex
 machine, whose own thoughts can effect its behavior - (placebo effect).
 disease as a physical aberration

What kind of a machine is the cell (and the organism)?
 an evolved machine.
  rules of its evolution
  (are their questions about the reality of evolution?)

 a complex machine:
  ~3000 genes in free living bacteria
  ~6,000 genes in yeast.
  ~20,000 genes in C. elegans - versus ~100,000 in human.

Each gene may encode one or more than one polypeptide (alternative splicing)
 RNA.   Each may interact with multiple other gene products.
 
Terms we need to be sure of:

gene	gene product	allele
genetic linkage	phenotype	genotype
gene regulation	genetic background	free radicals
protein	nucleic acid	post-translational modification
basic components of the eukaryotic cell	nucleus	lyzosome
	ER	Golgi apparatus
	nucleolus	ribosome
	mitochondria	proteosome
	peroxisome	nuclear envelope
Genetic terms	pleiotrophic	dominant
	recessive	neomorph
	amorph / null	hypomorph
	hypermorph	anticipation
	sex-linked

 
What is relationship of C-elegans to human / yeast to human?
  what is common / what is unique
  what does homologous mean? analogous
  convergence / conserved.

genetic traits of ancestors determine current organisms.
 possibility of choking - due to evolutionary paths to lungs/digestive system
    (look at "Why We Get Sick" - on reserve in Norlin).
 
most organisms have no ancestors - a few give rise to the current generation
 the traits of these ancestors determine our structure/fate. 
 
this process accumulates information
 coin toss paradigm
   -- unlikely events become certainties.

what traits have been selected?
 traits that improve survival / birth / ability to produce offspring.
   competition for mates

traits are not "mono-chromatic"
 many genes, have pleiotrophic effects and their effects can be altered by other genes.

positive effect at one stage of development may be linked to negative effect at another.
 which will be selected?
  the one that impacts earlier stage (generally).
   everyone's ancestors were past the age of sexual maturity,
    not every ancestor was old.
 traits that effect the young more likely to be selected.
  for example: consider disease that effects the
this fact of evolution likely to explain diseases / conditions such as senility/aging

 consider:  original case - no senility / no aging (paradise).
   even so, certain probability of death (accident, predation, infection).
   number of organization at any particular age decreases.
 assume origin of a trait that increases reproductive potential early
  but, leads to a decrease in older organisms.   Selection will favor the young,
  since there are more of them.  (*)  lead to accumulation of mutations,     improve reproductive potential / harmful side effects.

Genetic interactions:  diseases with early onset - greatly limit reproductive potential
 consider Huntingdon's chore - late onset genetic disease.
  appears in 40s with loss of memory and motor control
 If the original version of the mutant allele lead to early onset, the victim would rarely be able to pass the trait on.
  It would be strongly selected against, even if it produced beneficial effects.
 however, if the onset could be delay (perhaps by mutations in other genes), the
  carrier could retain benefit / minimize drawbacks.
  selection of the trait.

practical part - web access
    -  who has experience? research, etc.
    -  looking at WEB site.

 Bibliography:

Darwin's dangerous idea.

Why We Get Sick.

Mechanism of Disease, chapter 1

A trip to stonesville. Arnold Relman. 1998. The New Republic. (on line).