Human Genome & Personality: V K Sharma / June 2007

HUMAN

GENOME & PERSONALITY V K Sharma / June 2007

HUMAN GENOME & PERSONALITY • Genome is a BOOK • It has 23 chapters called CHROMOSOMES • Each chapter contains several thousand stories, called GENES • Each story is made up of paras EXONS • Each para is made up of words CODONS • Each word is written in letters, called BASES

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• One billion words in the book • If u read @ one word / sec, take 32 years • This gigantic document fits inside the microscopic nucleus of a tiny cell, that fits easily upon the head of a pin. • Idea of Genome as a book is not a metaphor, but literally true. Only difference, some parts of genome read L to R & some R TO L, though never both at same time. • Genomes are written entirely in three letter words, using four letters.

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• A ADANINE • C CYTOSINE • G GUANINE • T THYMINE • Instead of being written on flat pages, these are written on long chains of sugar & phosphate molecules, called DNA molecules.

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• To each Chain are attached 3 bln pairs of bases, as side rungs. • Each Chromosome is one pair of very long DNA molecules, the famous doublehelio of original strand & its complementary pair intertwined. • Genome is a very clever book, it can both photocopy itself [REPLICATION] and read itself [TRANSLATION].

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• To make a copy of the complementary strand , brings back the original text. Sequence of ACG becomes GCA in the copy, which transcribes back to ACG in the copy of the copy. This enables DNA to replicate indefinitely, retaining same information. • THUS THE Genetic information coded by an organism’s DNA, spread over 23 chapters, chromosomes, is called its GENOME [ THE Book]

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• A great beauty of embryo development, is the bit that human beings find so hard to grasp. • It is a totally decentralized process. • Every cell in the human body carries a complete copy of the Genome. No cell need to wait for instructions from higher authority. • We do not organize society / organizations that way. We are obsessed with dragging as many decisions as possible to central authority. • Should we learn something from Nature?

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• A NEURON is a major class of cells in the nervous system. Their main role is to process & transmit information via synapses. There are about 100 trillion synapses in the human brain. • Neurons use CHEMICALS like DOPAMINE & SEROTONIN as Neuro Transmitters. • There are around 50 such chemicals. By using 50 different chemical signals, brain can carry on many different conversations at the same time. Each neuro-transmitter stimulates diffrent cells or alters their sensitivity to dfrnt chemical mesngrs.

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On Chromosome 11, there is a gene D4DR. It is a recipe for a protein, that serves as a Dopamine receptor.  Its job is to stick out of the membrane of a neuron at the junction of another neuron [junction called Synapse] , ready to latch on to chemical Dopamine.  Dopamine is released from the tips of other neurons by an electric signal.  When dopamine-receptor encounters dopamine, it causes its own neuron to discharge an electric signal. That is the way brain works : Electric signals that cause chemical signals that cause electric signals.

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• It is misleading to think of brain as a computer for many reasons, but one the most obvious- is that an electric switch in a computer is just an electric switch. • A SYNAPSE in a brain is an electric switch embedded in a chemical reactor of great sensitivity. • Presence of D4DR gene in a neuron, identifies that neuron as a member one of brain’s DOPAMINE MEDIATED PATHWAYS.

• Dopamine pathways do many things, including controlling flow of blood in the brain as well as impacting our personality. • Research has shown that extent of presence of these chemicals in the brain have an impact on the human personality. Let us scan 2 examples :

• When there is SHORTAGE of DOPAMINE, it makes the person INDECISIVE, LACKING IN INITIATIVE, FROZEN PERSONALITY. • When in MODERATION, TAKES INITIATIVE • When Dopamine is in EXCESS, person GETS BORED EASILY, seeks adventure to get the same dopamine BUZZ.

• When Dopamine is present in MODERATION, person TAKES INITITATIVE

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• To simplify grossly, DOPAMINE is PERHAPS the MOTIVATION CHEMICAL for the organism. • Too little, the person lacks initiative. • Too much and the person easily gets bored & frequently seeks new adventures.

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• Let us now see the impact of another chemical in the brain, SEROTONIN • When in SHORTAGE, makes a person IMPULSIVE ( Changeable, erratic, whimsical) • When in MODERATION, RELIEVES ANXIETY / DEPRESSION • When in EXCESS, makes a person COMPULSIVE, obsessed with some thing like tidiness / caution…, to the point of being NEUROTIC.

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• Another point of view……

• The mind of the child lives between the cells..the Synapses..By the time child reaches early teens, her brain has carved out unique network of connections. She has some beautiful, frictionless, traffic free 4-lane highways (pathways) where connections are smooth & strong. • And she has barren wastelands, where no signal at all makes it across. • If she has 4-lane highway for CONFRONTATION , she will be that lucky person whose brain hands her one word after another in the heat of debate. If she has a wasteland for confrontation, her brain shuts her mouth at most critical moments.

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• NATURE vs NURTURE debate

• “ to believe in innate human nature is to fall in the trap of DETERMINISM & to condemn people to a heartless fate written in their genes, before they were born.” • “ We simply do not have enough genes for this biological determinism to be right…” Craig Venter • Genome has changed every thing, not by closing the argument, or winning the battle for one side or the other, but by enriching.., till they meet in the middle.

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• Before coming to meeting in the middle, let us examine history of various kinds of Determinism. • Fall of parental (Freudian) determinism. • Fall of Margaret Mead’s Cultural determinism. • Fall of stimulus-response determinism of Watson & Skinner. • Fall of Linguistic determinism. • Venter’s Observation • Sir J Sulston, one of Genome project leaders, “ ..just 33 genes, each coming in 2 varieties, ‘on’ & ‘off’,would be enough to make every human being in the world unique…”

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• MEETING in the MIDDLE argument • It is genes that allow human mind to learn, to remember, to initiate, to absorb culture. • Genes are not puppet masters, nor are they just carriers of heredity, they are active during life. • You eat cookies on winter evenings to cheer yourself up by raising your brain serotonin levels. The take home message is that u can change your serotonin levels by altering your eating habits.

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• A trio of therapists learning about new developments from genetics, , switched from trying to treat their clients’ shyness to trying to make them content with innate pre-disposition. • Clients felt relieved that their personality was real & not a bad habit they had got into. • To their surprise, found that telling that they are naturally shy, helped them overcome shyness.

• 1909, in Danube, two 6 yr old boys were given 2 newly hatched ducklings, they followed children every where, mistaking them for parents. • Later research showed that bet 15 hrs & 3 days of birth, ducklings fixate on 1st moving thing as mother. • 1989, David Barker, medical scientist, analyzed 5000 men born bet 1911 & 1930 in South England & found that those who weighed below a level upto 1 yr, had highest death rate from heart disease. Confirmed same finding from a sample of 4600 men, Helsinki Uni Hospital, born bet 1934 & 1944.

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• No longer is it Nature VS Nurture. Genes are designed to take their cue from nurture. The more we lift the lid on the genome, the more vulnerable to experience genes appear to be. • Your brain chemistry is determined by the social signals to which u get exposed. Higher your self-esteem & social rank relative to those around u, higher your serotonin level is. • There are genes that vary the rate of serotonin manufacture, vary the responsiveness of serotonin receptors…….

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• HITLER’S LOVE CAMPS • T Bouchard of uni Minnesota, 1979, collected separated twins from all over world,tested for IQ • Combined with results of other studies…. • Same person tested twice 0.87 cor • Identical twins reared together 0.86 • “ “ “ apart 0.76 • Biological siblings 0.47 • Parents & children living together 0.40 • “ “ “ “ apart 0.31 • Adopted children living together/apart 0 / 0

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• Heritability estimates apply between individuals & not between groups. • Evidence from cross racial adoption suggests that avg IQ of blacks reared by & among whites is no different from that of whites. • High heritability of short sightedness is accounted for not by just the heritabiity of eye shape, but also by the heritability of literate habits. The heritability of intelligence may be about the genetics of nurture.

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• IN SUMMATION • The subject is still under exploration. Much more light needs to be shed. We need to discover more and learn more. • There exists genuine fear among many that genetic reasons will again be used to make lives of the under privileged even more disadvantaged. • That fear, as we saw, is not so well grounded & should’nt blind us to some knowledge already available, suggesting greater pay off by working together.

• SPECIFICALLY IN HRD CONTEXT… • Approaches of Training /Feedback / Coaching / / Mentoring / Job Rotation…will bring about some improvement among some people. • However, it would not be adequate, most probably, to make him / her a world class performer in that role, if gap is largish. • He / She may become world class in another role, thus indicating need for thrust on redeployment. • We may need to add, may be some unusual items, to out repertoire of HRD interventions….could be food habits.

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• Tremendous pay-off likely by discovering, by honing still better tools of selection, so as to spot more successfully those with high personality and role match,for all strategic positions. • THANK YOU • Bibliography : • “ Genome: The autobiography of a species”..Matt Ridley, 1999 • “ Nature via Nurture” … do , 2003 • “ Are genes us?” …C F Cranor, 1994 • Wikipedia •

“Very different animals have very similar sets of genes. By following the trail of evolution, devices

are being found within DNA – Genetic Switches – that do not encode any proteins but that regulate when and where genes are used….When we compare mammalian genomes such as those of the mouse, rat, dog, human & chimpanzees, we see that their respective gene catalogues are remarkably similar. Approx no of genes in each animal’s genome is about 20,000. The expression of a gene entails the transcription of the DNA sequence into a messenger RNA [mRNA] VERSION &the translation of that mRNA into a protein sequence…Certain non-coding DNA sequences play a critical role in directing when & where that happens. They are components of ,”Genetic Switches” that turn genes ‘on’ or ‘off’ at the right time & place in the body. ” Scientific American…May 2008.

• “ About 5% children, under 18, have a group of symptoms that are called ‘ Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ADHD]. About 60% carry the symptoms into adulthood. Many studies have shown that ADHD is genetic and not, as was once presumed, the result of poor parenting. Neuro-transmitter chemical involved is DOPAMINE , which controls feelings of REWARD or PLEASURE. [contradicts Matt Ridley, who associates this with Serotonin] • The suggestion is that people with ADHD are receiving +ve feedback for inappropriate behaviour. The main symptom of ADHD is impulsiveness [when dopamine shortage]. Sufferers have trouble in concentrating on any task unless they receive constant +ve feedback/reward..

• They are prone to addictive & compulsive behaviour when dopamine in excess]. • One hypothesis is that behaviour associated with ADHD helps people such as hunter gatherers, pastoral nomads…, but tend to perform poorly in modern society.” Economist – June 14, 2008 • “ Such drugs are called cognition enhancers. They work on the neural processes that underlie such mental activities as attention, perception , learning, memory, language, planning, decision making, usually by altering the balance of chemical neuro transmitters. • Ritalin [mehtylphenidate] & Provogil [modafinil], even though notlicensed for wider use are being used by some people to pep themselves up…Provogil , for example, adds the ability to remember extra digit[ most ppeople can hold seven random digits in their memory, but have difficulty with 8. It also improves people’s performance in tests of their ability to plan.

• ONE SUCH NEURO TRANSMITTER IS GLUTOMATE. This throws switches to the ON position in the memory circuit. Members of a newly discovered class of compounds, ampakines, boost the activity of glutomate and thus make it easier to form memories.” Economist – May 24, 2008 • “ As soon as the mothers identified their own babies, the areas of brain associated with the ‘reward’ went on alert & the brain chemical Dopamine, important for learning, motivating, sleeping & controlling movement. Strength of reaction varies with the babies expression, a smiling face triggering the biggest reaction.” Hindustan Times – P 20 – July 08, 2008