To understand the roughly 100,000 genes in the human genome, researchers say they must investigate an even more complicated set of molecules-proteins. Genes are the blueprints for making proteins, and the "sequence" of a gene—its structural pattern— determines the kind of protein it makes. Some proteins become building blocks for structural parts of the cell. Other proteins become molecular "machines" enzymes, hormones, antibodies that carry out the myriad activities necessary to keep the cell and the body working properly.
With an understanding of human proteins (or the proteome), scientists will be able to fight disease on many fronts. For example, scientists at the Center for Proteome Analysis in Odense, Denmark, have isolated a protein, galectin, that may fight diabetes. Diabetes seems to be caused when insulin-producing cells in the pancreas are inadvertently killed by the body’s immune system.
The Danish scientists spent years analyzing the proteins present in diabetes-prone and diabetes-resistant cells, and they tentatively concluded that galectin protects diabetes-prone cells from being attacked by the immune system. Preliminary animal tests, in which the galectin gene has been inserted into diabetes-prone cells, seem to confirm the hypothesis.
Effective cancer drugs may also arise from a deeper understanding of genes and proteins, says Ken Carter, president of Therapeutic Genomics, one of the many biotech companies working to devise new drugs based on genetic knowledge. Soon, scientists will be able to quickly and accurately compare cancer tissue with normal tissue to see which genes are "switched on" and making proteins and which genes are not, he says.
"If you found a gene that was highly expressed in prostate cancer cells but not other tissues, you could deduce that gene was involved in prostate cancer," according to Carter. "We would try to develop in the lab a way to block the expression of that gene." One possibility would be a "small molecule" drug that would attach to and inactivate that gene’s protein.
Finally, drugs themselves will likely become safer and more effective because they will be tailored to an individual’s genetic ability to process medicines, predicts Robert Waterston, director of the Human Genome Project sequencing center at Washington University in St.Louis.
In the future, a blood test could show how much of a particular drug-processing enzyme a person has, Waterston explains. The doctor would then adjust the dose accordingly or prescribe a drug custom designed for that person’s genetic makeup. This new field, called pharmacogenomics, should eliminate many of the drug side effects that result from our current, cruder methods of determining dosage.
According to the text, the function of genes is ______.

A:to plan for making proteins B:to determine the kind of protein it makes C:like that of building blocks D:to carry out the myriad activities

To understand the roughly 100,000 genes in the human genome, researchers say they must investigate an even more complicated set of molecules-proteins. Genes are the blueprints for making proteins, and the "sequence" of a gene—its structural pattern— determines the kind of protein it makes. Some proteins become building blocks for structural parts of the cell. Other proteins become molecular "machines" enzymes, hormones, antibodies that carry out the myriad activities necessary to keep the cell and the body working properly.
With an understanding of human proteins (or the proteome), scientists will be able to fight disease on many fronts. For example, scientists at the Center for Proteome Analysis in Odense, Denmark, have isolated a protein, galectin, that may fight diabetes. Diabetes seems to be caused when insulin-producing cells in the pancreas are inadvertently killed by the body’s immune system.
The Danish scientists spent years analyzing the proteins present in diabetes-prone and diabetes-resistant cells, and they tentatively concluded that galectin protects diabetes-prone cells from being attacked by the immune system. Preliminary animal tests, in which the galectin gene has been inserted into diabetes-prone cells, seem to confirm the hypothesis.
Effective cancer drugs may also arise from a deeper understanding of genes and proteins, says Ken Carter, president of Therapeutic Genomics, one of the many biotech companies working to devise new drugs based on genetic knowledge. Soon, scientists will be able to quickly and accurately compare cancer tissue with normal tissue to see which genes are "switched on" and making proteins and which genes are not, he says.
"If you found a gene that was highly expressed in prostate cancer cells but not other tissues, you could deduce that gene was involved in prostate cancer," according to Carter. "We would try to develop in the lab a way to block the expression of that gene." One possibility would be a "small molecule" drug that would attach to and inactivate that gene’s protein.
Finally, drugs themselves will likely become safer and more effective because they will be tailored to an individual’s genetic ability to process medicines, predicts Robert Waterston, director of the Human Genome Project sequencing center at Washington University in St.Louis.
In the future, a blood test could show how much of a particular drug-processing enzyme a person has, Waterston explains. The doctor would then adjust the dose accordingly or prescribe a drug custom designed for that person’s genetic makeup. This new field, called pharmacogenomics, should eliminate many of the drug side effects that result from our current, cruder methods of determining dosage.
According to Ken Carter, effective cancer drugs may also arise by means of ______.

A:a deeper understanding of genes and proteins B:devising new drugs based on genetic knowledge C:comparing cancer tissue with normal tissue D:"switching on" some genes

Vegetarianism A strict vegetarian is a person who never in his life eats anything derived from animals. The main objection to vegetarianism on a long-term basis is the difficulty to getting enough protein, the body building elements in food. If you have ever been without meat or animal foods for some days of weeks(say, religious reasons) you will have noticed that you tend to get physically rather weak. You are glad when the fast is over and you get your reward of a succulent meat meal. Proteins are built up from approximately twenty food elements called "amino-acids", which are found more abundantly in animal protein than in vegetable protein. This means you have to eat a great deal more vegetable than animal food in order to get enough of these amino-acids. A great of the vegetable food goes to waste in this process and from the physiological point of view there is not much to be said in favor of life-long vegetarianism. The economic side of the question, though, must be considered. Vegetable food is much cheaper than animal food. However, since only a small proportion of the vegetable protein is useful for body-building purposes, a consistent vegetarian, if he is to gain the necessary 70 grams of protein a day, has to consume a greater bulk of food than his digestive organs can comfortably deal with. In fairness, though, it must be pointed out that vegetarians claim they need far less than 70 grams of protein a day. Whether or not vegetarianism should be advocated for adults, it is definitely unsatisfactory for growing children, who need more protein than they can get from vegetable source’’s. A lacto-vegetarian diet, which includes milk and milk products such as cheese, can, however, be satisfactory as long as enough milk and milk products are consumed. Meat and cheese are the best sources of usable digestible and next come milk, fish and eggs. Slow and careful cooking of meat makes it more digestible and assists in the breaking down of the protein content by the body. When cooking vegetables, however, the vitamins, and in particular the water-solube vitamin C, should be lost through overcooking. Compared with vegetable food animal food contains______.

A:more proteins B:more nutrients C:more minerals D:more amino-acids

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A:more proteins B:more nutrients C:more minerals D:more amino-acids

Vegetarianism A strict vegetarian is a person who never in his life eats anything derived from animals. The main objection to vegetarianism on a long-term basis is the difficulty to getting enough protein, the body building elements in food. If you have ever been without meat or animal foods for some days of weeks(say, religious reasons) you will have noticed that you tend to get physically rather weak. You are glad when the fast is over and you get your reward of a succulent meat meal. Proteins are built up from approximately twenty food elements called "amino-acids", which are found more abundantly in animal protein than in vegetable protein. This means you have to eat a great deal more vegetable than animal food in order to get enough of these amino-acids. A great of the vegetable food goes to waste in this process and from the physiological point of view there is not much to be said in favor of life-long vegetarianism. The economic side of the question, though, must be considered. Vegetable food is much cheaper than animal food. However, since only a small proportion of the vegetable protein is useful for body-building purposes, a consistent vegetarian, if he is to gain the necessary 70 grams of protein a day, has to consume a greater bulk of food than his digestive organs can comfortably deal with. In fairness, though, it must be pointed out that vegetarians claim they need far less than 70 grams of protein a day. Whether or not vegetarianism should be advocated for adults, it is definitely unsatisfactory for growing children, who need more protein than they can get from vegetable source’’s. A lacto-vegetarian diet, which includes milk and milk products such as cheese, can, however, be satisfactory as long as enough milk and milk products are consumed. Meat and cheese are the best sources of usable digestible and next come milk, fish and eggs. Slow and careful cooking of meat makes it more digestible and assists in the breaking down of the protein content by the body. When cooking vegetables, however, the vitamins, and in particular the water-solube vitamin C, should be lost through overcooking. Compared with vegetable food animal food contains______.

A:more proteins B:more nutrients C:more minerals D:more amino-acids

Vegetarianism A strict vegetarian is a person who never in his life eats anything derived from animals. The main objection to vegetarianism on a long-term basis is the difficulty to getting enough protein, the body building elements in food. If you have ever been without meat or animal foods for some days of weeks(say, religious reasons) you will have noticed that you tend to get physically rather weak. You are glad when the fast is over and you get your reward of a succulent meat meal. Proteins are built up from approximately twenty food elements called "amino-acids", which are found more abundantly in animal protein than in vegetable protein. This means you have to eat a great deal more vegetable than animal food in order to get enough of these amino-acids. A great of the vegetable food goes to waste in this process and from the physiological point of view there is not much to be said in favor of life-long vegetarianism. The economic side of the question, though, must be considered. Vegetable food is much cheaper than animal food. However, since only a small proportion of the vegetable protein is useful for body-building purposes, a consistent vegetarian, if he is to gain the necessary 70 grams of protein a day, has to consume a greater bulk of food than his digestive organs can comfortably deal with. In fairness, though, it must be pointed out that vegetarians claim they need far less than 70 grams of protein a day. Whether or not vegetarianism should be advocated for adults, it is definitely unsatisfactory for growing children, who need more protein than they can get from vegetable source’’s. A lacto-vegetarian diet, which includes milk and milk products such as cheese, can, however, be satisfactory as long as enough milk and milk products are consumed. Meat and cheese are the best sources of usable digestible and next come milk, fish and eggs. Slow and careful cooking of meat makes it more digestible and assists in the breaking down of the protein content by the body. When cooking vegetables, however, the vitamins, and in particular the water-solube vitamin C, should be lost through overcooking. Compared with vegetable food animal food contains______.

A:more proteins B:more nutrients C:more minerals D:more amino-acids

Vegetarianism A strict vegetarian is a person who never in his life eats anything derived from animals. The main objection to vegetarianism on a long-term basis is the difficulty to getting enough protein, the body building elements in food. If you have ever been without meat or animal foods for some days of weeks(say, religious reasons) you will have noticed that you tend to get physically rather weak. You are glad when the fast is over and you get your reward of a succulent meat meal. Proteins are built up from approximately twenty food elements called "amino-acids", which are found more abundantly in animal protein than in vegetable protein. This means you have to eat a great deal more vegetable than animal food in order to get enough of these amino-acids. A great of the vegetable food goes to waste in this process and from the physiological point of view there is not much to be said in favor of life-long vegetarianism. The economic side of the question, though, must be considered. Vegetable food is much cheaper than animal food. However, since only a small proportion of the vegetable protein is useful for body-building purposes, a consistent vegetarian, if he is to gain the necessary 70 grams of protein a day, has to consume a greater bulk of food than his digestive organs can comfortably deal with. In fairness, though, it must be pointed out that vegetarians claim they need far less than 70 grams of protein a day. Whether or not vegetarianism should be advocated for adults, it is definitely unsatisfactory for growing children, who need more protein than they can get from vegetable source’’s. A lacto-vegetarian diet, which includes milk and milk products such as cheese, can, however, be satisfactory as long as enough milk and milk products are consumed. Meat and cheese are the best sources of usable digestible and next come milk, fish and eggs. Slow and careful cooking of meat makes it more digestible and assists in the breaking down of the protein content by the body. When cooking vegetables, however, the vitamins, and in particular the water-solube vitamin C, should be lost through overcooking. Compared with vegetable food animal food contains______.

A:more proteins B:more nutrients C:more minerals D:more amino-acids