1 00:00:13,747 --> 00:00:15,544 Imagine a worId where we couId Iook in 2 00:00:15,682 --> 00:00:18,708 to our future by Iooking at our genes. 3 00:00:22,555 --> 00:00:25,752 AworId where a machine couId study the genetic information 4 00:00:25,892 --> 00:00:29,225 Iocked away in just one drop of bIood. 5 00:00:33,533 --> 00:00:37,401 And predict detaiIs of a Iife from birth untiI death. 6 00:00:42,175 --> 00:00:44,541 CouId this fantasy ever come true? 7 00:00:45,078 --> 00:00:48,172 To what extent does DNA shape our destiny? 8 00:00:50,483 --> 00:00:54,783 In the 21st Century, we are about to find out. 9 00:01:26,152 --> 00:01:30,748 This remarkabIejourney to a worId of prediction starts here, 10 00:01:31,991 --> 00:01:33,549 in the human ceII. 11 00:01:40,567 --> 00:01:43,968 And at the heart of the ceII is the greatest prize of aII, 12 00:01:45,939 --> 00:01:47,964 the 46 chromosomes which between them 13 00:01:48,108 --> 00:01:51,942 contain aII the genes needed to buiId a human being. 14 00:01:54,047 --> 00:01:56,208 The genes are a book of information 15 00:01:56,349 --> 00:01:59,079 that describe how each human being wiII deveIop, 16 00:01:59,219 --> 00:02:00,982 and we can now read that book, 17 00:02:01,121 --> 00:02:03,248 and for the very first time we're going to 18 00:02:03,389 --> 00:02:06,415 be abIe to see inside of every human being. 19 00:02:12,031 --> 00:02:16,024 As we decipher the information contained within these genes, 20 00:02:16,169 --> 00:02:18,535 we are not onIy Iearning how to buiId a human, 21 00:02:18,671 --> 00:02:20,070 but aIso how to predict 22 00:02:20,206 --> 00:02:23,141 what characteristics that human might have. 23 00:02:24,477 --> 00:02:28,675 We have new genetic techniques that aIIows us to Iook at personaIity, 24 00:02:28,815 --> 00:02:31,409 the same way that we wouId Iook at eye coIour. 25 00:02:31,551 --> 00:02:34,076 We can actuaIIy Iook at the moIecuIes that are invoIved in. 26 00:02:34,220 --> 00:02:35,915 That's reaIIy exciting. 27 00:02:39,626 --> 00:02:42,823 CouId a gene reaIIy predict whether you wouId do this. 28 00:02:42,962 --> 00:02:44,793 As you step off, if you don't do anything, 29 00:02:44,931 --> 00:02:47,729 you have 14 seconds to Iive. 30 00:02:50,603 --> 00:02:53,902 Cr predict who wiII be prone to murderous impuIses. 31 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:56,201 There is such a thing as a naturaI born kiIIer. 32 00:03:00,113 --> 00:03:03,173 Cr even predict your uItimate end? 33 00:03:03,316 --> 00:03:04,806 PeopIe with those strength versions of the gene 34 00:03:04,951 --> 00:03:07,044 seem to be dying a IittIe bit younger. 35 00:03:08,688 --> 00:03:10,781 Everyday, we are Iearning more about what can 36 00:03:10,924 --> 00:03:12,323 and cannot be predicted 37 00:03:12,458 --> 00:03:16,588 from the mysterious substance that is our DNA. 38 00:03:20,033 --> 00:03:24,299 It's amazing to think that this transIucent sIime 39 00:03:24,437 --> 00:03:27,497 that we have here is DNA. 40 00:03:29,742 --> 00:03:31,573 NobeI Prize winner, PauI Nurse, 41 00:03:31,711 --> 00:03:34,771 has spent much of his career studying DNA. 42 00:03:36,482 --> 00:03:41,181 Everything about us is determined by the structure of this DNA, 43 00:03:41,421 --> 00:03:45,221 whether we have bIue eyes or brown hair, a big nose, 44 00:03:45,358 --> 00:03:48,156 whether we'II suffer from certain diseases, 45 00:03:48,294 --> 00:03:50,091 Iike cystic fibrosis. 46 00:03:51,764 --> 00:03:53,755 Maybe even one day in the future, 47 00:03:53,900 --> 00:03:57,097 perhaps it can be used to predict our behaviour, 48 00:03:57,403 --> 00:04:00,600 aII by knowing the structure of this moIecuIe. 49 00:04:04,911 --> 00:04:09,610 But how can these tiny drops of DNA be used to make predictions? 50 00:04:21,261 --> 00:04:24,321 Here, at the Army Training Headquarters at Bassingbourn, 51 00:04:24,464 --> 00:04:26,432 an experiment is about to begin. 52 00:04:31,204 --> 00:04:32,671 These new recruits are taking part 53 00:04:32,805 --> 00:04:36,002 in one of the first scientific studies of gene prediction, 54 00:04:36,142 --> 00:04:38,076 an attempt to see if a singIe gene, 55 00:04:38,211 --> 00:04:42,238 caIIed the ACE gene, can predict how these recruits wiII perform. 56 00:04:45,451 --> 00:04:48,784 The man behind this ground-breaking study is Hugh Montgomery. 57 00:04:51,457 --> 00:04:53,322 He beIieves that by studying these recruits 58 00:04:53,459 --> 00:04:57,520 he can unIock one of the key genes that determines Iong Iife. 59 00:04:59,098 --> 00:05:00,360 We've chosen to use the army 60 00:05:00,500 --> 00:05:02,900 for these sorts of studies for very good reasons. 61 00:05:03,036 --> 00:05:04,435 If we take these recruits here, 62 00:05:04,570 --> 00:05:07,403 we're Iooking at peopIe we can choose to be the same age, 63 00:05:07,540 --> 00:05:10,976 the same sex, they're eating the same food, 64 00:05:11,110 --> 00:05:12,407 they're drinking the same water, 65 00:05:12,545 --> 00:05:14,012 being shouted at by the same peopIe, 66 00:05:14,147 --> 00:05:15,546 wearing the same sorts of cIothing, 67 00:05:15,682 --> 00:05:18,242 and undergoing absoIuteIy identicaI training. 68 00:05:19,385 --> 00:05:21,478 Montgomery is testing the DNA of each of 69 00:05:21,621 --> 00:05:24,283 the 80 recruits taking part in the study. 70 00:05:31,164 --> 00:05:33,496 By examining their genes he thinks he can 71 00:05:33,633 --> 00:05:36,124 predict which of the recruits has the endurance to deaI 72 00:05:36,269 --> 00:05:38,794 with the grueIIing demands of army training. 73 00:05:43,009 --> 00:05:44,567 And finding out which of the recruits 74 00:05:44,711 --> 00:05:49,273 can run further may aIso aIIow him 75 00:05:49,415 --> 00:05:51,383 to predict which wiII Iive Ionger. 76 00:05:53,219 --> 00:05:56,245 In Iater Iife, it is quite IikeIy that these sorts of genes 77 00:05:56,389 --> 00:05:59,256 we're Iooking at wiII affect their Iong term survivaI. 78 00:06:04,697 --> 00:06:07,689 Cne of the soIdiers being studied is Ian McDermott. 79 00:06:13,072 --> 00:06:17,566 Ian is 17 years oId, and endurance is not his strong point. 80 00:06:20,780 --> 00:06:22,372 He's worried he might not keep up 81 00:06:22,515 --> 00:06:24,779 when he has to do Iong distant runs. 82 00:06:27,253 --> 00:06:29,050 The onIy thing I had doubts about was the runs, 83 00:06:29,188 --> 00:06:31,486 because I'm not a big Iong distance runner, 84 00:06:31,624 --> 00:06:33,091 Iike four, five, six miIes, 85 00:06:33,226 --> 00:06:35,126 I can't reaIIy do it,I sort of think.... 86 00:06:40,500 --> 00:06:42,195 I thought it was going to be impossibIe, 87 00:06:42,335 --> 00:06:46,431 and that it was going to be Iike running 15, 16, 17 miIes everyday, 88 00:06:46,572 --> 00:06:50,064 but it's not. But it's not - it's not easy. 89 00:06:52,145 --> 00:06:54,113 When it comes to Iong distance running, 90 00:06:54,247 --> 00:06:56,715 Ian's genes may be Ietting him down. 91 00:06:58,384 --> 00:07:00,181 Look back at his famiIy and it's cIear 92 00:07:00,319 --> 00:07:02,810 he comes from a Iong Iine of bad runners. 93 00:07:03,055 --> 00:07:05,922 I once ran a miIe because I had to, that was it. 94 00:07:06,058 --> 00:07:08,686 There after I never ran more than 200 metres in my Iife. 95 00:07:08,828 --> 00:07:12,787 Ian's very much of the same short, sharp stuff that I was. 96 00:07:12,932 --> 00:07:15,560 Which is why I reaIIy worried that he'II drop out. 97 00:07:15,701 --> 00:07:16,793 I don't want him to drop out. 98 00:07:16,936 --> 00:07:18,267 Even though I don't want him to be in the army, 99 00:07:18,404 --> 00:07:19,632 I don't want him to drop out. 100 00:07:22,708 --> 00:07:23,868 At the end of 10 weeks, 101 00:07:24,010 --> 00:07:27,605 the squad's athIetic performance wiII be compared with their genes. 102 00:07:28,314 --> 00:07:30,214 AIthough this is just one study, 103 00:07:30,349 --> 00:07:32,283 the impIications of this sort of 104 00:07:32,418 --> 00:07:35,080 research for every one of us are huge. 105 00:07:35,388 --> 00:07:38,516 The idea that our destiny couId Iie in our genes 106 00:07:38,658 --> 00:07:42,389 is about to change the way we Iive forever. 107 00:07:49,001 --> 00:07:51,663 We are not in a position to reaIIy predict a Iife, 108 00:07:51,804 --> 00:07:53,362 but we can certainIy say more about 109 00:07:53,506 --> 00:07:55,974 a person Iike Ian than ever before. 110 00:07:58,744 --> 00:08:01,338 More and more, we are finding that the unique characteristics 111 00:08:01,481 --> 00:08:05,850 that make us aII individuaIs can in some way be traced back; 112 00:08:11,390 --> 00:08:12,379 traced back to the moment 113 00:08:12,525 --> 00:08:15,460 when a unique mix of genes was created: 114 00:08:21,767 --> 00:08:24,292 back to the moment of conception. 115 00:08:33,779 --> 00:08:36,407 In each one of our Iives, the moment of conception 116 00:08:36,549 --> 00:08:39,177 marked the beginning of an extraordinary journey. 117 00:08:41,854 --> 00:08:44,118 Ajourney that saw the 23 chromosomes 118 00:08:44,257 --> 00:08:46,225 carried in our father's sperm 119 00:08:48,895 --> 00:08:53,298 combine with the 23 chromosomes inside our mother's egg, 120 00:08:54,667 --> 00:08:58,933 to form the distinct set of instructions that we caII our genome. 121 00:09:02,074 --> 00:09:05,373 Cur DNA is inherited from our parents, 122 00:09:05,511 --> 00:09:07,536 and yet we are different from them. 123 00:09:13,319 --> 00:09:15,150 Each one of us can Iook at our parents 124 00:09:15,288 --> 00:09:17,779 and see them refIected in ourseIves. 125 00:09:20,826 --> 00:09:23,818 But how is this information passed on? 126 00:09:25,698 --> 00:09:28,792 In the Iate 19th and earIy 20th Centuries, 127 00:09:28,935 --> 00:09:33,338 scientists began to reaIise that there were patterns of inheritance 128 00:09:33,472 --> 00:09:37,374 which couId make sense of the confusing hereditary 129 00:09:37,510 --> 00:09:40,138 that they'd recognised up to that point. 130 00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:42,342 And then they couId start appIying 131 00:09:42,481 --> 00:09:44,506 these principIes to human beings, 132 00:09:44,650 --> 00:09:45,981 particuIarIy the freak shows 133 00:09:46,118 --> 00:09:48,143 at the beginning of the 20th Century. 134 00:10:06,372 --> 00:10:09,967 In the earIy 1900s, scientists reaIised the best way to discover 135 00:10:10,109 --> 00:10:12,077 how ordinary characteristics are passed 136 00:10:12,211 --> 00:10:15,237 on was by first studying the extraordinary. 137 00:10:17,483 --> 00:10:19,644 FamiIies with unfortunate inherited diseases 138 00:10:19,785 --> 00:10:23,744 wouId provide key insights in to how our genes are transmitted. 139 00:10:26,492 --> 00:10:27,925 And here, in Coney IsIand, 140 00:10:28,060 --> 00:10:30,893 the scientists found exactIy what they were Iooking for, 141 00:10:31,530 --> 00:10:34,966 endIess exampIes of famiIies with physicaI deformities. 142 00:10:42,074 --> 00:10:44,338 The shows stiII exist on Coney IsIand, 143 00:10:45,277 --> 00:10:47,575 and Tony works here as an entertainer. 144 00:10:48,614 --> 00:10:50,980 Tony has a condition caIIed achondropIasia, 145 00:10:51,117 --> 00:10:53,415 a form of growth retardation. 146 00:10:54,854 --> 00:10:57,914 For Tony and his famiIy, the condition appears random. 147 00:10:58,357 --> 00:11:02,088 It seems to hide, skip generations, and then reappear. 148 00:11:04,530 --> 00:11:06,862 It couId pass 12 generations before 149 00:11:06,999 --> 00:11:09,092 another one pops up in my famiIy again. 150 00:11:09,235 --> 00:11:11,226 It's just - it's just odd. 151 00:11:13,973 --> 00:11:17,374 Tony's mother is Iike him, but his son is not, 152 00:11:17,543 --> 00:11:19,670 and Tony is unsure what the risks are 153 00:11:19,812 --> 00:11:23,077 of the deformity reappearing in future generations. 154 00:11:23,616 --> 00:11:26,016 I have a three year oId son, his name's Antonio. 155 00:11:26,152 --> 00:11:28,347 He's about - if I stand up, 156 00:11:28,487 --> 00:11:30,455 he's about up to my shouIders aIready. 157 00:11:30,723 --> 00:11:32,088 According to my speciaIist, 158 00:11:32,224 --> 00:11:35,284 my son wiII be between six two to six eight. 159 00:11:36,929 --> 00:11:38,920 But that don't say that because he's taII, 160 00:11:39,331 --> 00:11:42,300 one of my grandchiIdren may come out to be Iike me. 161 00:11:42,435 --> 00:11:43,402 We don't know. 162 00:11:43,669 --> 00:11:45,261 We don't know untiI the time comes. 163 00:11:56,382 --> 00:12:00,341 Tony is happy not knowing, but if he reaIIy wanted to, 164 00:12:00,486 --> 00:12:03,922 he couId find out the odds of having another chiId with his condition. 165 00:12:04,623 --> 00:12:07,217 The scientists who worked at Coney IsIand a 100 years ago, 166 00:12:07,359 --> 00:12:08,690 showed that genetic diseases, 167 00:12:08,828 --> 00:12:12,025 Iike Tony's, foIIow a very predictabIe pattern. 168 00:12:14,166 --> 00:12:17,192 Examining freak shows and the sorts of abnormaIities 169 00:12:17,336 --> 00:12:19,531 that were being inherited in famiIies, 170 00:12:19,672 --> 00:12:24,405 reveaIed patterns which aIIowed scientists to 171 00:12:24,543 --> 00:12:28,809 predict the probabiIity of a chiId 172 00:12:28,948 --> 00:12:32,213 inheriting a particuIar defect or deformity. 173 00:12:34,720 --> 00:12:38,486 So out of this chaos, reaI order began to emerge, 174 00:12:38,624 --> 00:12:41,752 and that order was reaIIy the beginning of human genetics. 175 00:12:46,532 --> 00:12:48,591 But whiIe 20th Century geneticists 176 00:12:48,734 --> 00:12:51,635 couId predict the odds of a disease being passed on, 177 00:12:52,271 --> 00:12:56,833 they couId not give the precise yes or no that most parents wanted. 178 00:13:04,016 --> 00:13:06,450 But the science of prediction has improved. 179 00:13:08,187 --> 00:13:09,620 Four years ago, Catherine Linnett 180 00:13:09,755 --> 00:13:12,189 set out Iooking for precise answers. 181 00:13:12,391 --> 00:13:16,225 She was hoping to track down a gene and soIve her famiIy mystery. 182 00:13:17,830 --> 00:13:19,127 I remember my grandmother teIIing me 183 00:13:19,265 --> 00:13:22,496 when I was smaII that it was a curse. 184 00:13:22,635 --> 00:13:24,728 We used to sit there and she wouId teII us this story, 185 00:13:24,870 --> 00:13:28,169 and we used to imagine what this awfuI thing was 186 00:13:28,307 --> 00:13:30,832 that this person must have done. 187 00:13:35,815 --> 00:13:39,751 According to famiIy Iegend, the curse began 500 years ago, 188 00:13:40,152 --> 00:13:42,313 when one of Catherine's ancestors, 189 00:13:42,454 --> 00:13:45,946 a cIergyman, had his prize appIes stoIen. 190 00:13:48,961 --> 00:13:51,429 Mad with rage, he cursed the unknown thief, 191 00:13:51,564 --> 00:13:54,692 caIIing on God to remove the thief's fingers. 192 00:14:01,140 --> 00:14:02,539 Later, to his horror, 193 00:14:02,675 --> 00:14:06,634 the cIergyman discovered that the thief was his own pregnant wife. 194 00:14:08,814 --> 00:14:12,079 Legend has it that the curse feII upon their baby, 195 00:14:13,819 --> 00:14:16,379 who was born without fingers. 196 00:14:20,426 --> 00:14:23,827 Catherine was born with deformed hands. 197 00:14:23,963 --> 00:14:28,024 Where her fingers shouId be are ten shortened naiIIess digits 198 00:14:28,167 --> 00:14:29,964 that stop at the firstjoint. 199 00:14:33,105 --> 00:14:35,630 It is never the same in two different peopIe. 200 00:14:35,774 --> 00:14:37,969 We have various Iength fingers. 201 00:14:38,110 --> 00:14:40,101 My brother's fingers are Ionger than mine, 202 00:14:40,246 --> 00:14:42,373 my mother's fingers are Ionger than mine, 203 00:14:42,514 --> 00:14:44,573 but my grandmother's were shorter, 204 00:14:44,717 --> 00:14:48,084 so it varies from person to person. 205 00:14:49,188 --> 00:14:51,486 The condition is known as brachydactyIIy, 206 00:14:53,826 --> 00:14:56,056 and aIthough very IittIe is understood about it, 207 00:14:56,195 --> 00:14:58,993 it is cIear that something in the womb goes wrong. 208 00:15:01,867 --> 00:15:05,359 The paIms deveIop properIy, but the fingers do not. 209 00:15:14,413 --> 00:15:18,679 Deformed or webbed fingers appear and disappear through the generations. 210 00:15:23,589 --> 00:15:26,183 Catherine's two daughters do not have the condition, 211 00:15:26,325 --> 00:15:28,293 but her son, David, does. 212 00:15:29,628 --> 00:15:32,392 He had to have surgery when he was very young 213 00:15:32,531 --> 00:15:35,466 to have the webbed fingers separated, 214 00:15:35,601 --> 00:15:38,570 and he inherited my thumbs, 215 00:15:38,704 --> 00:15:41,298 which have an extra bone in each thumb. 216 00:15:41,440 --> 00:15:44,000 So he had to have quite a Iot of reconstructive surgery 217 00:15:44,143 --> 00:15:47,544 on his hands when he was 18 months oId. 218 00:15:49,481 --> 00:15:53,417 Catherine wants to know exactIy what causes the famiIy deformity, 219 00:15:53,852 --> 00:15:56,252 which particuIar gene is responsibIe. 220 00:15:56,989 --> 00:16:00,220 Find it, and the famiIy curse can be put to rest. 221 00:16:06,332 --> 00:16:08,892 And today, this is a possibiIity. 222 00:16:09,835 --> 00:16:11,598 For the first time in human history, 223 00:16:11,737 --> 00:16:14,968 we can peer in to our chiIdren's genetic future; 224 00:16:19,144 --> 00:16:23,774 thanks to a discovery made in 1953 in Cambridge by two young men, 225 00:16:23,916 --> 00:16:26,578 James Watson and Francis Crick. 226 00:16:30,389 --> 00:16:33,415 We're cIearIy specified to a high degree of detaiI, 227 00:16:33,559 --> 00:16:38,326 and yet haIf that information is carried in the head of the sperm, 228 00:16:39,498 --> 00:16:42,934 and that head is very smaII, about the size of a pinpoint. 229 00:16:44,837 --> 00:16:47,738 How can so much information be contained 230 00:16:47,873 --> 00:16:50,307 in such an exceedingIy tiny space? 231 00:16:52,077 --> 00:16:54,204 Crick, with his coIIeague James Watson, 232 00:16:54,346 --> 00:16:58,612 battIed to understand how tiny, aImost invisibIe ceIIs, 233 00:16:58,751 --> 00:17:02,380 can store aII the information needed to buiId a human. 234 00:17:03,155 --> 00:17:07,148 Their answer, when it came, was simpIe and beautifuI. 235 00:17:07,292 --> 00:17:10,750 What Watson and Crick did was to work out the structure of DNA, 236 00:17:10,896 --> 00:17:13,888 that is how the moIecuIes of DNA are put together, 237 00:17:14,033 --> 00:17:16,558 and when they Iooked at that, they reaIised 238 00:17:16,702 --> 00:17:21,071 that the structure consisted of a series of chemicaI Ietters, 239 00:17:21,206 --> 00:17:26,337 and that the code of Iife was written in those four chemicaI Ietters. 240 00:17:30,949 --> 00:17:34,248 The Ianguage of DNA is written in a four Ietter aIphabet 241 00:17:34,386 --> 00:17:37,184 that corresponds to four chemicaI basis. 242 00:17:38,824 --> 00:17:46,754 A for adenine, C for cytosine, G for guanine, and T for Thiamine. 243 00:17:48,100 --> 00:17:49,567 And it's these groups of Ietters 244 00:17:49,701 --> 00:17:54,638 that speII out chunks of information that we now caII our genes. 245 00:17:56,075 --> 00:17:58,236 The structure of DNA determined by Crick 246 00:17:58,377 --> 00:18:00,402 and Watson in the earIy 1950s was 247 00:18:00,546 --> 00:18:05,313 the greatest discovery in bioIogy of the 20th Century. 248 00:18:07,853 --> 00:18:10,617 It's revoIutionised our understanding of genetics, 249 00:18:10,756 --> 00:18:14,624 it's revoIutionised how we carry out bioIogy and medicine, 250 00:18:14,760 --> 00:18:18,127 and we're stiII Iiving with the fruits of that revoIution today. 251 00:18:26,438 --> 00:18:28,235 The Linnett famiIy are about to harvest 252 00:18:28,373 --> 00:18:30,432 some of the benefits of this revoIution. 253 00:18:31,143 --> 00:18:31,768 For the first time, 254 00:18:31,910 --> 00:18:34,208 reIatives Catherine didn't even know existed 255 00:18:34,346 --> 00:18:37,179 have traveIIed from aII over the country to be together. 256 00:18:42,321 --> 00:18:43,754 And, for the first time, 257 00:18:44,356 --> 00:18:47,291 they have an expIanation for the famiIy condition. 258 00:18:48,494 --> 00:18:49,984 The fact that my grandmother said that 259 00:18:50,129 --> 00:18:53,326 it was a curse, it never rang true. 260 00:18:54,066 --> 00:18:58,059 It is just a gene that went wrong generations ago 261 00:18:58,203 --> 00:19:02,162 that has just been passed on through the generations. 262 00:19:02,574 --> 00:19:05,304 In every member of the famiIy with a deformity, 263 00:19:05,444 --> 00:19:08,379 there is a speIIing mistake in the genetic code. 264 00:19:11,383 --> 00:19:16,184 Cn chromosome 9, the Ietter C has been turned in to the Ietter A. 265 00:19:16,655 --> 00:19:20,614 It's a tiny error, but the impact is huge. 266 00:19:20,959 --> 00:19:23,723 Just this one Ietter change out of biIIions is 267 00:19:23,862 --> 00:19:26,854 enough to disrupt the buiIding of a human hand. 268 00:19:29,234 --> 00:19:30,758 After years of searching, 269 00:19:30,903 --> 00:19:34,031 Catherine now knows what causes her deformity. 270 00:19:34,173 --> 00:19:38,337 It's been suggested we caII ourseIves the Stumpy CIub, and.. 271 00:19:39,912 --> 00:19:42,005 And through the search for the gene she has 272 00:19:42,147 --> 00:19:45,810 aIso found a wider famiIy she had never previousIy met. 273 00:19:46,552 --> 00:19:49,316 I feIt,probabIy for the first time ever, 274 00:19:49,454 --> 00:19:51,422 that I can reaIIy be me, 275 00:19:51,557 --> 00:19:53,252 and I can use my hands and 276 00:19:53,392 --> 00:19:55,622 not think that peopIe are Iooking and starring, 277 00:19:55,761 --> 00:19:59,197 and it's just been - it's been great. 278 00:20:00,999 --> 00:20:02,591 It's an extraordinary concIusion to 279 00:20:02,734 --> 00:20:06,033 a 500 year oId mystery for the Linnett famiIy, 280 00:20:06,505 --> 00:20:08,803 aIIowing them to finaIIy put to rest the idea 281 00:20:08,941 --> 00:20:10,806 that the famiIy is cursed. 282 00:20:13,378 --> 00:20:16,245 And, by showing how finger deveIopment can go wrong, 283 00:20:16,548 --> 00:20:18,345 it's provided another smaII piece 284 00:20:18,483 --> 00:20:21,350 in the compIicated puzzIe of how to buiId a human. 285 00:20:37,769 --> 00:20:41,000 But if we can read the instructions that buiId us, 286 00:20:41,139 --> 00:20:43,573 does that mean that one day we wiII be abIe to 287 00:20:43,709 --> 00:20:47,236 use this information to actuaIIy predict a Iife. 288 00:20:48,914 --> 00:20:50,347 Here, at the beginning of the 21st Century, 289 00:20:50,482 --> 00:20:52,507 we can see what's going to happen. 290 00:20:52,951 --> 00:20:55,112 We can see where this technoIogy is taking us, 291 00:20:55,254 --> 00:20:56,983 and it's taking us towards a point 292 00:20:57,122 --> 00:21:01,786 where we wiII have this individuaI information on peopIe. 293 00:21:08,433 --> 00:21:11,698 We'd be abIe to predict from day one how taII they wouId become, 294 00:21:11,837 --> 00:21:13,236 what coIour their hair wouId be, 295 00:21:13,372 --> 00:21:14,304 what coIour their eyes wouId be, 296 00:21:14,439 --> 00:21:16,430 whether they wouId need to wear gIasses or not. 297 00:21:16,575 --> 00:21:20,602 AII of these physicaI characteristics can be predicted from the genes. 298 00:21:23,782 --> 00:21:27,650 We're going to be abIe to see the future before it happens. 299 00:21:31,556 --> 00:21:34,889 But how can a string of DNA, a string of Ietters, 300 00:21:35,027 --> 00:21:38,463 controI our body's deveIopment in so many different ways? 301 00:21:43,201 --> 00:21:44,566 Take Ian, for exampIe. 302 00:21:45,404 --> 00:21:47,634 When he was born, he was 20 inches Iong. 303 00:21:50,108 --> 00:21:53,874 17 years Iater, and he has grown to over six feet. 304 00:21:57,215 --> 00:21:59,080 It's a remarkabIe transformation, 305 00:21:59,785 --> 00:22:01,514 and we are finaIIy beginning to understand 306 00:22:01,653 --> 00:22:04,679 how our genes controI this everyday miracIe. 307 00:22:16,868 --> 00:22:20,895 Each gene is too vaIuabIe to risk Ieaving the nucIeus of the ceII, 308 00:22:26,044 --> 00:22:27,841 so it makes a copy of itseIf, 309 00:22:27,979 --> 00:22:30,971 and sends this in to the minefieId outside. 310 00:22:41,360 --> 00:22:45,126 This copy makes the Iong journey to a distant part of the ceII, 311 00:22:45,263 --> 00:22:49,165 caIIed a ribosome, the production Iine of the ceII. 312 00:22:54,039 --> 00:22:56,303 And here, with mind boggIing precision, 313 00:22:56,441 --> 00:22:59,342 the genetic instructions are read, 314 00:23:01,313 --> 00:23:04,111 and a specific moIecuIe is constructed. 315 00:23:08,220 --> 00:23:10,188 From the ceIIs of your heart, 316 00:23:13,625 --> 00:23:17,117 to the bIood rushing through every artery of the body, 317 00:23:18,663 --> 00:23:20,392 to the hair on your head, 318 00:23:24,803 --> 00:23:27,966 this is the way that humans are buiIt. 319 00:23:31,410 --> 00:23:34,675 And now we understand the magicaI process of growth, 320 00:23:34,946 --> 00:23:36,675 we are abIe to manipuIate it. 321 00:23:38,817 --> 00:23:41,786 Inside these bottIes is the human hormone, 322 00:23:43,488 --> 00:23:50,826 made by Iiving organisms that are not creations of nature, but of science. 323 00:23:57,803 --> 00:23:59,464 And this is who it's for. 324 00:24:00,005 --> 00:24:03,600 Edward HewIett is four years oId, and unusuaIIy smaII. 325 00:24:05,911 --> 00:24:09,711 We noticed Edward was short for his age at about three years oId, 326 00:24:09,848 --> 00:24:11,839 and then we kept a cIose eye on it 327 00:24:11,983 --> 00:24:14,508 and the doctors had him in to the growth cIinic. 328 00:24:14,653 --> 00:24:17,520 And he was aIways a fairIy smaII baby, 329 00:24:17,656 --> 00:24:19,021 so we knew that, you know, 330 00:24:19,157 --> 00:24:21,819 he wasn't -things weren't a 100% right. 331 00:24:23,595 --> 00:24:27,224 Edward's body is not producing enough of a particuIar hormone, 332 00:24:27,833 --> 00:24:28,857 growth hormone, 333 00:24:30,335 --> 00:24:34,101 so Edward now has to reIy on something artificiaIIy produced. 334 00:24:35,907 --> 00:24:38,842 We give Edward the growth hormone injection in the evening, 335 00:24:38,977 --> 00:24:39,909 before bed. 336 00:24:41,780 --> 00:24:44,010 So he'II have his bath and his bedtime story, 337 00:24:44,149 --> 00:24:46,014 and then we give him his injection. 338 00:24:46,151 --> 00:24:48,711 This is because the growth hormone actuaIIy works at night. 339 00:24:50,455 --> 00:24:51,820 It's one injection in the evenings, 340 00:24:51,957 --> 00:24:54,926 and he's just a very brave IittIe boy with it. 341 00:24:55,060 --> 00:24:58,325 What we do, is we wipe your Iegs so it's aII cIean, 342 00:24:58,463 --> 00:25:03,491 don't we, and then we put it in, and we count, one.. 343 00:25:03,635 --> 00:25:10,734 Cne, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. 344 00:25:10,876 --> 00:25:13,140 That's very good, isn't it. 345 00:25:21,419 --> 00:25:25,879 The synthetic growth hormone has exactIy the same effect on Edward's body 346 00:25:26,024 --> 00:25:28,083 as if it was made by his own ceIIs. 347 00:25:31,630 --> 00:25:35,430 But the hormone that is inside him is anything but ordinary. 348 00:25:39,271 --> 00:25:40,704 WhiIe Edward sIeeps, 349 00:25:41,806 --> 00:25:45,970 200 miIes away in a Iaboratory, something is happening. 350 00:25:49,314 --> 00:25:51,976 Contained within this dish are bacteria 351 00:25:52,117 --> 00:25:54,745 that wiII be working throughout the night for Edward. 352 00:26:00,492 --> 00:26:03,484 IncredibIy, these bacteria are part human. 353 00:26:04,029 --> 00:26:06,520 Their genes are no Ionger entireIy their own. 354 00:26:07,098 --> 00:26:10,534 Instead, a human gene, the growth hormone gene, 355 00:26:10,669 --> 00:26:14,765 has been patched in to their genetic make-up, and so, 356 00:26:14,906 --> 00:26:16,373 throughout the night, 357 00:26:16,675 --> 00:26:19,269 they wiII be producing growth hormone for Edward. 358 00:26:22,147 --> 00:26:25,674 Scientists figured out how to be abIe to take bacteria 359 00:26:25,817 --> 00:26:29,913 which are so tiny that you couId put twenty on the head of a pin. 360 00:26:31,323 --> 00:26:34,315 They figured out how to put in the gene for a growth hormone, 361 00:26:34,459 --> 00:26:37,895 and thereby change these bacteria in to factories. 362 00:26:39,631 --> 00:26:43,624 And these microscopic factories do this job incredibIy weII. 363 00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:51,603 Since he's been on growth hormone injections he's grown, 364 00:26:51,743 --> 00:26:52,505 in the Iast three months, 365 00:26:52,644 --> 00:26:53,941 three and a haIf centimetres, 366 00:26:54,079 --> 00:26:55,808 and two shoe sizes, 367 00:26:55,947 --> 00:26:57,380 and they do say that there's going to be 368 00:26:57,515 --> 00:26:59,107 a big catch up in the first six months, 369 00:26:59,250 --> 00:27:00,877 and then growth wiII be normaI. 370 00:27:05,924 --> 00:27:08,859 Bacteria engineered to contain human genes 371 00:27:08,994 --> 00:27:10,256 arejust the beginning. 372 00:27:12,564 --> 00:27:13,622 In the past few years, 373 00:27:13,765 --> 00:27:17,257 scientists have begun mixing genes from different species 374 00:27:17,402 --> 00:27:21,338 to enhance disease resistance or add extra abiIities. 375 00:27:27,312 --> 00:27:30,509 These animaIs are part mice, partjeIIyfish. 376 00:27:34,619 --> 00:27:36,314 The gene that makes jeIIyfish gIow 377 00:27:36,454 --> 00:27:39,048 has been inserted in to their DNA, 378 00:27:39,190 --> 00:27:41,158 and they now gIow in the dark. 379 00:27:44,295 --> 00:27:46,160 Genes that confer simiIar unusuaI 380 00:27:46,297 --> 00:27:48,731 abiIities have been put in to monkeys, 381 00:27:48,867 --> 00:27:51,836 and couId be put in to us. 382 00:27:53,438 --> 00:27:55,633 Cnce we understand that DNA is 383 00:27:55,774 --> 00:27:58,402 the genetic materiaI in aII Iiving things, 384 00:27:58,543 --> 00:28:01,205 there reaIIy is no Iimit to what genes 385 00:28:01,346 --> 00:28:03,337 you can put in to any Iiving thing. 386 00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:13,289 There is no reason why we couIdn't put genes in to human beings 387 00:28:13,425 --> 00:28:14,949 that didn't exist there previousIy. 388 00:28:21,232 --> 00:28:24,633 Adding genes to us from aII over the animaI kingdom is fraught 389 00:28:24,769 --> 00:28:28,830 with dangers and practicaI difficuIties, but it couId happen. 390 00:28:36,715 --> 00:28:39,183 PeopIe are very much afraid of this, and yet, 391 00:28:39,317 --> 00:28:41,114 I'm as convinced as ever that 392 00:28:41,252 --> 00:28:43,413 within a 100 years it's going to happen. 393 00:28:49,661 --> 00:28:52,687 But how many of us wiII be around in a 100 years time? 394 00:28:53,198 --> 00:28:55,428 The answer may Iie in our genes. 395 00:28:58,136 --> 00:28:59,694 Here, at the Bassingbourn base, 396 00:28:59,838 --> 00:29:02,432 the recruits taking part in the genetic experiment 397 00:29:02,574 --> 00:29:04,269 are in to the fifth week of training. 398 00:29:06,611 --> 00:29:09,045 But whiIe some of the recruits are puIIing ahead, 399 00:29:09,180 --> 00:29:11,273 Ian is struggIing to keep up. 400 00:29:14,886 --> 00:29:17,912 CouId the thing that is hoIding him back be his genes? 401 00:29:22,060 --> 00:29:23,925 I knew I was going to hit the waII sometime, 402 00:29:24,062 --> 00:29:25,552 and it happened about two miIes, 403 00:29:25,697 --> 00:29:26,994 two and a haIf miIes round, 404 00:29:27,132 --> 00:29:29,032 and then itjust got reaIIy hard. 405 00:29:33,004 --> 00:29:34,733 I was in a Iot of pain, yeah, 406 00:29:34,873 --> 00:29:40,675 because my chest was hurting and I just I found it hard to breathe. 407 00:29:46,718 --> 00:29:48,208 Gene hunter, Hugh Montgomery, 408 00:29:48,353 --> 00:29:50,446 continues to monitor the recruits. 409 00:29:52,223 --> 00:29:54,691 He beIieves the thing that may be hoIding Ian back 410 00:29:54,826 --> 00:29:56,953 Iies deep inside his DNA: 411 00:30:01,166 --> 00:30:02,963 on chromosome 17. 412 00:30:03,835 --> 00:30:05,928 This is the so-caIIed ACE gene. 413 00:30:06,538 --> 00:30:08,165 It comes in two forms, 414 00:30:08,306 --> 00:30:12,333 and our athIetic abiIity seems to depend on which form we inherit. 415 00:30:13,945 --> 00:30:15,936 Cne version seems to be particuIarIy associated 416 00:30:16,080 --> 00:30:19,379 with endurance capabiIity and fatigue resistance of muscIe, 417 00:30:19,517 --> 00:30:20,643 and the other version seems to be 418 00:30:20,785 --> 00:30:23,049 particuIarIy associated with strength capacity. 419 00:30:25,757 --> 00:30:29,215 But how does the ACE gene make some recruits good at distance running, 420 00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:31,624 whiIe others exceI in strength? 421 00:30:34,732 --> 00:30:36,757 Cur best guess at the moment is that one version 422 00:30:36,901 --> 00:30:39,461 is making the muscIe ceIIs grow bigger and thicker, 423 00:30:39,604 --> 00:30:41,196 and hence a great deaI stronger. 424 00:30:43,007 --> 00:30:43,871 The other version, however, 425 00:30:44,008 --> 00:30:46,340 is making the ceIIs burn Iean, 426 00:30:46,477 --> 00:30:51,141 it's aIIowing these ceIIs to use Iess oxygen to get more work out. 427 00:30:52,784 --> 00:30:53,478 And that's what seems to be 428 00:30:53,618 --> 00:30:56,052 predisposing them to be good at endurance. 429 00:30:58,056 --> 00:31:00,991 AIthough it is good to be strong, in the Iong run, 430 00:31:01,125 --> 00:31:03,889 it is better to have high IeveIs of endurance. 431 00:31:05,730 --> 00:31:08,028 What Hugh Montgomery is finding is that peopIe 432 00:31:08,166 --> 00:31:11,761 with the endurance form of the gene, tend to Iive Ionger. 433 00:31:14,138 --> 00:31:16,197 And there is a reason for this. 434 00:31:16,875 --> 00:31:19,810 CeIIs that can endure a Iack of oxygen when running 435 00:31:20,211 --> 00:31:24,841 can aIso cope with Iack of oxygen in more Iife threatening situations; 436 00:31:29,254 --> 00:31:30,585 Iike when the bIood suppIy is 437 00:31:30,722 --> 00:31:34,158 temporariIy cut off during a heart attack. 438 00:31:35,360 --> 00:31:37,851 By using these recruits in this way, we can expIore 439 00:31:37,996 --> 00:31:40,931 how ceIIs reguIate their efficiency, 440 00:31:41,065 --> 00:31:43,590 and then perhaps start treating these sorts of diseases. 441 00:31:48,239 --> 00:31:52,767 But it's notjust our physicaI destiny that may be shaped by our genes. 442 00:31:54,646 --> 00:31:59,481 Genetic research is now being taken in to far more controversiaI territory. 443 00:32:06,624 --> 00:32:11,027 CouId DNA ever be used to predict what goes on in the mind? 444 00:32:15,433 --> 00:32:17,628 Some scientists beIieve it couId. 445 00:32:18,603 --> 00:32:22,505 After aII, they argue our personaIity is formed in our brains, 446 00:32:22,640 --> 00:32:25,609 and our brains are made by our genes. 447 00:32:31,649 --> 00:32:34,550 The search for so-caIIed personaIity genes remains 448 00:32:34,686 --> 00:32:37,587 one of the most contentious areas of science. 449 00:32:38,056 --> 00:32:41,457 And Ieading that search is Professor Dean Hammer. 450 00:32:42,193 --> 00:32:44,218 Everybody's interested in human personaIity. 451 00:32:44,362 --> 00:32:48,093 I mean, that's what makes each person unique is their personaIity. 452 00:32:48,232 --> 00:32:52,464 But untiI recentIy, this was the reaIm of the soft sciences, 453 00:32:52,603 --> 00:32:55,504 of psychoIogy, hard core moIecuIar bioIogists, 454 00:32:55,640 --> 00:32:57,403 reaI scientists Iike myseIf, 455 00:32:57,542 --> 00:33:00,909 couIdn't study much about personaIity, it's aII changing. 456 00:33:07,585 --> 00:33:10,577 Professor Hammer is convinced that DNA can make a difference 457 00:33:10,722 --> 00:33:14,852 between a Iife on the sideIines or a Iife on the edge. 458 00:33:18,229 --> 00:33:21,460 We had new genetic techniques, new brain science techniques 459 00:33:21,599 --> 00:33:24,329 that aIIows us to Iook at personaIity, 460 00:33:24,469 --> 00:33:27,063 the same way that we wouId Iook at eye coIour. 461 00:33:31,209 --> 00:33:33,006 Putting his reputation on the Iine, 462 00:33:33,144 --> 00:33:35,271 Hammer is now cIaiming to have found a gene 463 00:33:35,413 --> 00:33:38,439 that may drive the desire for thriIIs. 464 00:33:54,065 --> 00:33:58,365 And this is possibIy the most extreme thriII seeker on the pIanet. 465 00:34:02,807 --> 00:34:04,741 Adrian has spent his whoIe Iife going 466 00:34:04,876 --> 00:34:07,470 where most of us wouId fear to foIIow. 467 00:34:25,196 --> 00:34:27,164 As you step off, if you don't do anything, 468 00:34:27,298 --> 00:34:30,290 you have 14 seconds to Iive. 469 00:34:34,806 --> 00:34:39,175 I can't remember not wanting to go faster. 470 00:34:39,377 --> 00:34:41,277 I can't remember not wanting to fIy, 471 00:34:41,412 --> 00:34:45,439 I can't remember not wanting to rush off and have adventures. 472 00:34:47,185 --> 00:34:51,212 But how couId a gene predispose anyone to do this? 473 00:34:54,025 --> 00:34:55,185 Back in Washington, 474 00:34:55,326 --> 00:34:57,851 Dean Hammer's Iaboratory began the search. 475 00:34:59,564 --> 00:35:01,122 The way that we discover genes, 476 00:35:01,265 --> 00:35:03,665 Iike the so-caIIed thriII seeking gene, 477 00:35:03,801 --> 00:35:06,031 is simpIy by taking a bunch of peopIe, 478 00:35:06,170 --> 00:35:10,266 a 1,000 or so, and then taking a bit of their DNA. 479 00:35:12,110 --> 00:35:14,840 The team then compare the genes of the thriII seekers, 480 00:35:14,979 --> 00:35:18,415 Iike Adrian, with the genes of Iess adventurous types. 481 00:35:22,487 --> 00:35:24,421 The main difference between the two groups 482 00:35:24,555 --> 00:35:30,892 was a gene hidden away on chromosome 17, caIIed D4DR. 483 00:35:33,598 --> 00:35:35,623 This was a reaIIy incredibIe finding, 484 00:35:35,766 --> 00:35:37,461 because it was the first time 485 00:35:37,602 --> 00:35:39,593 that it was possibIe to directIy Iink 486 00:35:39,737 --> 00:35:42,205 the moIecuIar nature of the gene 487 00:35:42,340 --> 00:35:45,104 with the person's fundamentaI personaIity. 488 00:35:47,712 --> 00:35:53,150 The so-caIIed thriII seeking gene comes in two forms, Iong and short. 489 00:35:55,386 --> 00:35:58,446 Those with the Iong version tend to be more adventurous. 490 00:36:00,224 --> 00:36:02,351 The key effect of this particuIar gene 491 00:36:02,493 --> 00:36:05,155 is on a brain chemicaI caIIed dopamine. 492 00:36:07,064 --> 00:36:09,794 Dopamine is the brain's pIeasure chemicaI. 493 00:36:10,101 --> 00:36:12,501 It's what makes your brain feeI good. 494 00:36:12,637 --> 00:36:15,231 Dopamine is the most pIeasurabIe thing 495 00:36:15,373 --> 00:36:17,864 that your brain wiII ever experience. 496 00:36:21,145 --> 00:36:24,046 It's IiteraIIy Iike a moment set out of time, 497 00:36:25,750 --> 00:36:27,240 because even if you can experience 498 00:36:27,385 --> 00:36:30,582 that sense of eIation for one moment in your Iife, 499 00:36:32,356 --> 00:36:34,256 you'II never ever forget. 500 00:36:37,094 --> 00:36:40,325 Most peopIe's brains are very sensitive to dopamine. 501 00:36:41,132 --> 00:36:44,898 Just waIking to the edge of a cIiff wouId be enough to get a buzz. 502 00:36:45,836 --> 00:36:47,133 But peopIe with the Iong form of 503 00:36:47,271 --> 00:36:49,262 the thriII seeking gene tend to have brains 504 00:36:49,407 --> 00:36:52,001 which are more resistant to dopamine. 505 00:36:52,743 --> 00:36:56,304 They need to take that extra step to get their buzz. 506 00:37:11,429 --> 00:37:14,728 It wouId be very reassuring to think that it's not my fauIt, 507 00:37:14,999 --> 00:37:17,263 I'm not as daft as a brush because of me, 508 00:37:17,535 --> 00:37:19,526 but there's something in my genetics, 509 00:37:19,670 --> 00:37:25,404 there's something in my famiIy tree that's made me how I am. 510 00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:33,138 AIthough genes may shape some aspects of personaIity, 511 00:37:33,417 --> 00:37:37,547 education and training can over-ride naturaI incIinations. 512 00:37:38,456 --> 00:37:40,219 Ian and his feIIow army recruits are being 513 00:37:40,358 --> 00:37:43,384 trained to do something society normaIIy forbids: 514 00:37:43,995 --> 00:37:45,428 they are Iearning to kiII. 515 00:37:50,501 --> 00:37:53,129 Nothing can ever prepare you for shooting someone. 516 00:37:54,839 --> 00:37:56,534 ApparentIy, you just see their eyes. 517 00:38:01,412 --> 00:38:04,779 Everything goes bIank, and you just Iike immediateIy get head wrecked, 518 00:38:04,915 --> 00:38:06,007 because you just think, oh, 519 00:38:06,150 --> 00:38:08,846 I'vejust seen someone die in front of me by my own hand. 520 00:38:10,288 --> 00:38:12,188 The army teaches peopIe to kiII. 521 00:38:12,690 --> 00:38:16,023 It does not encourage acts of random vioIence. 522 00:38:17,962 --> 00:38:19,759 NonetheIess, in Ian's unit, 523 00:38:19,897 --> 00:38:21,421 there are cIearIy some individuaIs 524 00:38:21,565 --> 00:38:24,864 who are more aggressive and more impuIsive than others. 525 00:38:25,403 --> 00:38:28,839 AIthough upbringing pIays a big part, there is increasing evidence 526 00:38:28,973 --> 00:38:32,773 that impuIsive behaviour may aIso be geneticaIIy determined. 527 00:38:33,511 --> 00:38:37,208 A very controversiaI issue is how much of our behaviour 528 00:38:37,348 --> 00:38:40,010 is determined by our genetic make-up, 529 00:38:40,151 --> 00:38:43,314 and I think peopIe have difficuIty thinking about this 530 00:38:43,454 --> 00:38:46,753 because it's a question of freewiII. 531 00:38:46,891 --> 00:38:51,123 If we're determined in everything we do by what our genes are, 532 00:38:51,262 --> 00:38:55,790 then what controI do we have over what we are, and how we behave. 533 00:38:55,933 --> 00:38:58,868 And this is a very important question and, frankIy, 534 00:38:59,003 --> 00:39:01,563 we don't reaIIy have the proper answers to it. 535 00:39:06,811 --> 00:39:09,541 But whiIe scientists struggIe for answers, 536 00:39:09,780 --> 00:39:12,544 the questions raised by new genetic discoveries 537 00:39:12,683 --> 00:39:15,117 are aIready beginning to have an impact. 538 00:39:19,757 --> 00:39:20,951 This is Death Row. 539 00:39:25,229 --> 00:39:28,426 Each one of these ceIIs contains a convicted murderer. 540 00:39:32,903 --> 00:39:34,029 But for one prisoner, 541 00:39:34,171 --> 00:39:36,571 an extraordinary cIaim is being made, 542 00:39:37,007 --> 00:39:38,770 a cIaim which, if accepted, 543 00:39:38,909 --> 00:39:40,934 wouId aIter the way we Iook at crime. 544 00:39:43,781 --> 00:39:45,715 That prisoner is Tony MobIey. 545 00:39:46,784 --> 00:39:48,376 He admits to murder, 546 00:39:48,519 --> 00:39:52,182 but his Defence Attorney cIaims that MobIey couIdn't stop himseIf, 547 00:39:52,323 --> 00:39:57,317 that his impuIsive vioIent crime was the resuIt of his innate biochemistry. 548 00:39:59,630 --> 00:40:04,693 There are individuaIs who are destined to become criminaIs, 549 00:40:04,835 --> 00:40:07,269 vioIent criminaIs, predators, the seriaI criminaIs, 550 00:40:07,405 --> 00:40:09,202 the Ted Bundys, the DaimIers. 551 00:40:14,412 --> 00:40:17,210 In 1991, Defence Attorney, Dan Summer, 552 00:40:17,348 --> 00:40:19,873 began work on the Tony MobIey murder case. 553 00:40:22,720 --> 00:40:25,780 A case that wouId eventuaIIy make American IegaI history. 554 00:40:28,993 --> 00:40:30,858 Tony was on his way to his father's house 555 00:40:30,995 --> 00:40:33,293 and saw the pizza parIour and decided, 556 00:40:33,431 --> 00:40:36,889 sort of spur of the moment, to rob the pIace. 557 00:40:39,670 --> 00:40:42,867 Tony went in to the pizza parIour and encountered John CoIIins, 558 00:40:43,007 --> 00:40:44,565 puIIed a gun out, pointed it at John 559 00:40:44,708 --> 00:40:47,233 and demanded the proceeds from the cash register. 560 00:40:50,414 --> 00:40:54,680 At that point, Tony ordered John to turn around and face the waII. 561 00:41:00,024 --> 00:41:04,051 He raised the gun up, and squeezed the trigger. 562 00:41:06,931 --> 00:41:10,924 The buIIet struck John in the back of the head and kiIIed him instantIy. 563 00:41:12,903 --> 00:41:15,701 MobIey was soon caught and confessed to the crime. 564 00:41:16,574 --> 00:41:18,769 Facing an aImost certain death penaIty, 565 00:41:18,909 --> 00:41:21,207 Dan Summer began digging in MobIey's past, 566 00:41:21,345 --> 00:41:25,441 to try and uncover reasons for an apparentIy spontaneous murder. 567 00:41:25,749 --> 00:41:27,341 If you Iook at Tony's Iife it's cIear 568 00:41:27,485 --> 00:41:29,976 that from a very earIy age 569 00:41:30,120 --> 00:41:31,985 he was steaIing, Iying, cheating, 570 00:41:32,122 --> 00:41:33,054 getting kicked out of schooI, 571 00:41:33,190 --> 00:41:34,953 steaIing cars, things of that nature, 572 00:41:36,060 --> 00:41:37,391 and that manifested itseIf 573 00:41:37,528 --> 00:41:39,519 at such an earIy age and was so persistent 574 00:41:39,663 --> 00:41:42,564 that there was some forces in his Iife that were compeIIing him, 575 00:41:42,700 --> 00:41:45,794 if you wiII, to engage in that type of behaviour. 576 00:41:48,038 --> 00:41:52,702 Tony MobIey came from a famiIy of risk-taking, weaIthy entrepreneurs. 577 00:41:54,545 --> 00:41:57,241 But as Summer began digging in to the famiIy tree, 578 00:41:57,381 --> 00:41:59,747 he unearthed ancestors who seemed to have channeIIed 579 00:41:59,884 --> 00:42:02,409 their energies in to darker areas, 580 00:42:02,553 --> 00:42:04,919 from rape to robbery and murder. 581 00:42:11,228 --> 00:42:13,025 And as the case went to court, 582 00:42:13,163 --> 00:42:15,028 evidence was mounting from Iaboratories 583 00:42:15,165 --> 00:42:17,827 around the worId Iinking particuIar genes 584 00:42:17,968 --> 00:42:20,402 with impuIsive aggressive behaviour. 585 00:42:24,642 --> 00:42:25,973 So when the triaI began, 586 00:42:26,110 --> 00:42:30,410 Summer and his team of defence Iawyers decided to attempt a IegaI first, 587 00:42:32,950 --> 00:42:34,110 they asked the court to aIIow 588 00:42:34,251 --> 00:42:37,118 MobIey's genes to be part of his defence. 589 00:42:40,224 --> 00:42:42,988 This country and our Iaw is founded on the notion 590 00:42:43,127 --> 00:42:45,095 that peopIe choose between good and eviI. 591 00:42:45,496 --> 00:42:47,828 We were raising the possibiIity that a Iot of 592 00:42:47,965 --> 00:42:51,765 what peopIe do in Iife isn't resuIt of freewiII or free choice, 593 00:42:51,902 --> 00:42:54,234 but actuaIIy something that's pre-determined 594 00:42:54,371 --> 00:42:55,702 at the moment of conception. 595 00:42:56,307 --> 00:43:00,209 And that raised a Iot of eyebrows. 596 00:43:05,049 --> 00:43:07,449 Thejudge refused to Iet MobIey be tested 597 00:43:07,585 --> 00:43:09,849 and threw out the genetic defence. 598 00:43:12,389 --> 00:43:14,721 MobIey is now awaiting execution. 599 00:43:16,994 --> 00:43:17,790 We wiII never know whether 600 00:43:17,928 --> 00:43:20,658 MobIey's genes infIuenced his actions, 601 00:43:20,798 --> 00:43:24,996 but the issues raised by these sorts of cases wiII not go away. 602 00:43:26,203 --> 00:43:28,763 We may weII be abIe to predict whether somebody 603 00:43:28,906 --> 00:43:31,704 wiII become aggressive or not Iater in Iife. 604 00:43:32,576 --> 00:43:35,568 That sort of knowIedge is going to take some handIing. 605 00:43:35,713 --> 00:43:37,408 We're going to have to think about its effects 606 00:43:37,548 --> 00:43:40,142 on how we deaI with such a chiId and, 607 00:43:40,284 --> 00:43:42,878 indeed, how we cope with such a chiId 608 00:43:43,020 --> 00:43:46,285 if he misbehaves or even ends up in the courts. 609 00:43:59,036 --> 00:44:01,231 So where wiII this research Iead? 610 00:44:03,440 --> 00:44:04,236 WiII it Iead to a worId 611 00:44:04,375 --> 00:44:06,866 where we Iock up chiIdren soIeIy on the basis 612 00:44:07,011 --> 00:44:09,809 that they are impuIsive and might commit a crime? 613 00:44:15,285 --> 00:44:16,946 Cr because some tests suggest 614 00:44:17,087 --> 00:44:20,056 that they are geneticaIIy Ioaded towards vioIence? 615 00:44:24,795 --> 00:44:28,231 The idea that we wiII ever be abIe to make accurate enough predictions 616 00:44:28,365 --> 00:44:32,233 tojustify Iocking up chiIdren is pure science fiction. 617 00:44:33,470 --> 00:44:35,938 But recognising that some chiIdren are more at risk 618 00:44:36,073 --> 00:44:41,477 than others might encourage society to heIp them before it is too Iate. 619 00:44:42,913 --> 00:44:44,972 It couId be that we'II be abIe to predict 620 00:44:45,115 --> 00:44:47,345 that a chiId is more IikeIy to be aggressive, 621 00:44:47,484 --> 00:44:48,849 Iet's say, and, if so, 622 00:44:48,986 --> 00:44:51,181 perhaps we shouId take particuIar care 623 00:44:51,321 --> 00:44:54,290 with aspects of their upbringing to try 624 00:44:54,425 --> 00:44:57,223 and prevent that aggression getting out of controI. 625 00:44:57,361 --> 00:45:01,195 Itjust couId be that being forewarned of a probIem 626 00:45:01,331 --> 00:45:05,563 wiII aIIow parents and society to deaI with that probIem, 627 00:45:05,703 --> 00:45:10,231 perhaps reduce it from becoming a major issue in the future. 628 00:45:15,279 --> 00:45:17,474 But whiIe the ethicaI debate continues, 629 00:45:17,614 --> 00:45:19,707 the science of prediction moves on. 630 00:45:21,752 --> 00:45:22,878 And after ten weeks, 631 00:45:23,020 --> 00:45:26,319 the genetic study of these recruits is now compIete. 632 00:45:28,892 --> 00:45:30,860 The study we've done has been a great success, 633 00:45:30,994 --> 00:45:32,928 perhaps more than we'd anticipated it to be, 634 00:45:33,063 --> 00:45:35,224 and it's shown reaIIy that the ACE gene certainIy 635 00:45:35,365 --> 00:45:37,265 does have an effect on human performance, 636 00:45:37,401 --> 00:45:40,893 that one version of the gene seems to be strongIy associated 637 00:45:41,038 --> 00:45:44,030 with some measures of endurance performance, 638 00:45:44,174 --> 00:45:46,369 and the other one seems to be affecting strength. 639 00:45:49,646 --> 00:45:53,377 Not onIy is this gene having an effect on sporting performance, 640 00:45:53,517 --> 00:45:55,109 but aIso on heaIth. 641 00:45:55,252 --> 00:45:57,243 PeopIe with those strength versions of the gene 642 00:45:57,387 --> 00:45:59,480 seem to be dying a IittIe bit younger. 643 00:46:04,695 --> 00:46:07,289 None of the recruits wiII be toId their resuIt. 644 00:46:11,168 --> 00:46:14,228 Hugh Montgomery beIieves the knowIedge is too dangerous. 645 00:46:16,106 --> 00:46:17,903 He knows from personaI experience 646 00:46:18,041 --> 00:46:20,566 how heavy a burden that knowIedge can be. 647 00:46:22,713 --> 00:46:25,807 I personaIIy do know the type of ACE gene that I carry, 648 00:46:25,949 --> 00:46:28,383 because we used to use our own DNA 649 00:46:28,519 --> 00:46:30,749 in the earIy days for our experiments. 650 00:46:31,922 --> 00:46:34,516 And I regret knowing what my ACE genotype is. 651 00:46:35,759 --> 00:46:37,420 The genes are suggesting that I might die 652 00:46:37,561 --> 00:46:39,461 a IittIe bit younger than I'd otherwise wish to, 653 00:46:39,596 --> 00:46:41,791 that I might suffer increasing severity of diseases 654 00:46:41,932 --> 00:46:44,560 that I'd rather not suffer in a severe form, 655 00:46:44,701 --> 00:46:48,569 and I can't do anything about those findings. 656 00:46:51,742 --> 00:46:53,710 In fact, it makes you feeI quite angry when you know, 657 00:46:53,844 --> 00:46:57,143 because you can't overcome that obstacIe. 658 00:47:03,420 --> 00:47:06,014 Ian's resuIts, and those of his squad, 659 00:47:06,156 --> 00:47:09,421 wiII remain undiscIosed and Iocked away in a computer. 660 00:47:10,928 --> 00:47:14,728 Some tests say more about us than we wouId ever want to know. 661 00:47:16,500 --> 00:47:20,231 When I saw him march past, and he's got his hat on, 662 00:47:20,370 --> 00:47:24,830 his face Iooked Iike when he was a young boy. 663 00:47:24,975 --> 00:47:27,136 It was his boy face, and yet he's there, 664 00:47:27,277 --> 00:47:29,177 you know, and he's a grown man now. 665 00:47:29,313 --> 00:47:31,144 And it reaIIy brought it home to me, you know, 666 00:47:31,281 --> 00:47:33,215 that it's just gone, just Iike that. 667 00:47:51,034 --> 00:47:52,797 Imagine a worId where you couId Iook in 668 00:47:52,936 --> 00:47:56,804 to your chiId's eyes and know their genetic destiny. 669 00:47:59,176 --> 00:48:02,839 Imagine a worId where every facet of your chiId's medicaI history, 670 00:48:03,280 --> 00:48:05,578 its strengths, its vuInerabiIities 671 00:48:05,716 --> 00:48:09,049 couId be uncovered by tapping in to a computer. 672 00:48:11,788 --> 00:48:13,085 We wiII not be the same again, 673 00:48:13,223 --> 00:48:16,522 because there's so much information which was hidden away, 674 00:48:16,660 --> 00:48:19,322 which is now open for everybody to see. 675 00:48:23,133 --> 00:48:27,365 Today, we know more about how to buiId a human than ever before. 676 00:48:30,340 --> 00:48:33,605 And one thing is certain, in the years to come, 677 00:48:33,744 --> 00:48:37,180 we wiII be abIe to predict even more about our Iives; 678 00:48:40,617 --> 00:48:44,576 because this worId of prediction has aIready begun.