The Code

( A simple swap of any single letter out of 3 billions in the code can change our life beyond imagination.

For example,

Out of those 3 billion, only one letter in the sixth position of chromosome 11 is changed from GAG to GUG (RNA). That changes the HB so much that it no longer can carry oxygen.)

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The most important gift that we received from our parents are the 2 sets of 3 billion letters of DNA. They constitute the 23 pairs of genes in our cells.

They code for everything. From our color of hair to final height, our Obesity, Diabetes, Behavior, Personality everything.
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This book of genes in each of our cell uses only 4 alphabets. A,T,G,C and nothing else.
A simple swap of one letter in the gene that codes for hemoglobin changes the normal HB into sickled HB.

Imagine:
Out of 3 billion letters only one letter in the sixth position of chromosome 11 is changed leading to a change from GAG to GUG in the RNA. That changes the HB so much that it no longer can carry oxygen. Instead the round RBCs are deformed like sickles and get damaged early.

This condition is known as Sickle Cell Anemia. The child will suffer all his life from anemia, jaundice, severe bone pain. He can live only on regular blood transfusion.

Moreover, he will transmit this condition to all his future generations. Therefore, a large number of people from Western Odisha suffer from the Sickle Cell Anemia but not in the coastal Odisha.

Yet, for generations we carry those billion codes in our cells. Over the years we transmit true copies them to our offsprings so faithfully that a dog procreates only a dog and cat gives birth only to a cat not the reverse.

Life! Is it not amazing ?