Dr. Watson's visit

Elena Kleshchenko, NewTimes.RuScientists are investigating the contribution of genes to the formation of such mental diseases as autism, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease.

This, like transgenic bacteria synthesizing drugs, and the rapid diagnosis of infectious diseases, and the establishment of paternity, and much more, became possible thanks to the development of molecular biology.

There are not so few Nobel laureates in the world, but only a few of them are truly famous enough that their names are known to everyone - from a schoolboy to a minister. The legendary James Dewey Watson, the one who, together with Francis Crick, proposed a model of a DNA molecule in the form of a double helix, is one of such people. He came to Moscow at the invitation of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and a lecture at the House of Scientists on Prechistenka, which took place on July 3, was organized by the Dynasty Foundation.

There were many people who wanted to see Jim Watson with their own eyes — four times more than the hall could accommodate: already an hour before the start, the queue stretched to the nearest alley, and many had to listen to a lecture in the lobby, where a screen and speakers were installed.

An unbearable genius

Two oppositely directed chains connected by a "ladder" of nitrogenous bases — a picture known to schoolchildren today. Meanwhile, this simple model solved many mysteries: from purely chemical ones — about the structure of the "most important molecule" to fundamental ones — about the nature of the gene and heredity. For this discovery Watson, Crick and Maurice Wilkins (the latter confirmed the structure of DNA using X-ray crystallography) were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962. In fact, behind the publicly understandable model, there was a very serious science and a difficult history of discovery. (The New Times wrote about it in #7, February 18, 2008.) The era of molecular biology began with the double helix in modern science, and James Watson is rightfully considered a symbol of this new era.

He became a Nobel laureate at the age of 34, and at the time of the publication of the famous article in Nature "The structure of deoxyribonucleic acid", in which Watson and Crick first described their model, he was only 25. The young American won his place among the classics, pushing Linus Pauling himself. Maybe that's why even now, when he celebrated his 80th birthday, not only his relatives call him Jim. His fame was strengthened by brilliant textbooks on molecular biology and several books of memoirs (including the famous "Double Helix"), which became bestsellers. Watson's sharp tongue, his love of harsh statements still attract journalists and fans, but they also spoil his reputation. It is not for nothing that the founder of sociobiology, Edward Wilson, once called Watson "the most unpleasant human being I have ever met."

On the Internet, you can read that "in 2007, Watson was fired from the laboratory where he worked, after his statement that representatives of different races are intellectually unequal for genetic reasons," that he was "actually expelled" and "swept off the pedestal." Watson's statement, quoted in an article by his former employee, really provoked a loud scandal. However, in the original, before the "damaged phone", it had a slightly different meaning: according to Watson, people in different regions may have different innate intellectual abilities due to different selection directions - just as it happens with other traits. Watson did not associate this disparity with race, but he inadvertently cited Africa as an example and allowed himself some free jokes. Watson resigned, which is quite excusable at the age of 79, although the reason really was a "racially intellectual" scandal.

No one swept him off the pedestal. The Watson School of Biological Sciences is still operating in the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSH), one of the most prestigious academic institutions in the world, and on the CSH website visitors are greeted by an open letter from Dr. Watson himself, which ends with the words: "Nothing can be more important than understanding the structure of life!" Textbooks, monographs and methodological manuals decorated with the famous CSH logo in a "wreath" of a double helix are probably available today in every laboratory in the world where they work with DNA. And in all this, Watson's great merit. He himself paid great attention to cancer research. However, his lecture, delivered in Moscow, was devoted to another direction — the role of genetics in the study of mental illness.

Genes of insanity: are there any?

Condescension to other people's shortcomings has never been characteristic of Watson: he once declared that stupidity in its extreme manifestations is a disease that should be treated, even by genetic engineering methods. He said it as a joke. But the fact that genetics underlies many serious mental illnesses is already beyond doubt. (This was confirmed by the Human Genome project, in which James Watson also took an active part.) Today, scientists are investigating the contribution of genes to the formation of diseases such as autism, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease. In Russia, one of the leaders in this area is the laboratory of molecular Genetics of the brain of the Scientific Center for Mental Health of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, headed by Doctor of Biological Sciences E.I. Rogaev. (It was E. Rogaev, by the way, who was invited as an expert to resolve the issue of the royal remains: not because this issue has anything to do with psychiatry, but because the methods of molecular genetics are applicable in so many areas.) Evgeny Rogaev is a world-class "gene hunter", he and his colleagues are also engaged in the search for unknown genes of human diseases. Together with colleagues from the University of Toronto, he found out: mutations in which genes are responsible for the development of Alzheimer's disease, or senile dementia. This has opened up fundamentally new possibilities, not only for the diagnosis of predisposition to the disease, but also for the selection of new drugs: if you know which molecular mechanisms cause the disease, it is easier to figure out how to interfere with their work. Rogaev and his colleagues also studied the genetics of schizophrenia.

"Locksmiths" for the gene

Cold Spring Harbor is also working on this, but in a slightly different way. Jonathan Sebat and his staff put forward a very interesting idea. In their opinion, the cause of schizophrenia (as well as autism and Parkinson's disease) may be changes not in the structure, but in the dose of the gene, that is, in the number of copies of it, which may be different for different people. They developed a special method by which it is possible not to find "point" violations, but to determine large-scale rearrangements in DNA that could "hook" certain genes, and compared these data for healthy and sick people.

This method is very promising: determining the sequence of the entire human genome is still too expensive. Today, the genomes of only a few people have been fully "read" (by the way, one of them is James Watson), but modern medicine cannot do this for every patient. Therefore, it is very important to be able to determine at least the place of the "breakdown".

Interesting results were obtained in the study of autism. This disease often develops at an early age, bringing a lot of grief to the relatives of patients and a lot of problems to themselves. However, as Watson noted during the lecture, there are talented mathematicians among people with such a diagnosis: difficulties in communication do not prevent them from operating with abstract concepts. (And this once again reminds us of what a difficult task it is to treat autism.) The research conducted in Cold Spring Harbor allowed, in particular, to propose a new model of autism inheritance, which explains how this disease is transmitted through the maternal line, even if the mother does not have "acute" symptoms.

The schizophrenic mouse

The method proved to be effective in the case of schizophrenia. And Watson believes that it will revolutionize the diagnosis of the genetic causes of schizophrenia. Most likely, the first step to new medicines will be model animals. "Mice don't have schizophrenia," Watson explained, "but knowing which genes cause the disease, we can create a transgenic mouse suffering from schizophrenia and then try to cure it." At the end of the lecture, James Watson expressed the hope that in the future the cost of a complete reading of one human genome will approach the cost of a car. "And you will do it for your son or daughter," he told the audience, "because knowing your DNA sequence is no less important than having a car." And although most of the audience of the House of Scientists were young people, this assumption does not seem fantastic even to those who are older. Who knows what awaits us in ten years?

James Watson in Questions and Answers

It is known that many scientists become victims of science, paying more attention to it than to the family. How was it in your case?

Not really. I had no children and there were no women who would distract me from science.

What do you think about how science should be funded?

The path of a scientist can be difficult. When I was young, there were few people willing to work in science, and only famous scientists could get a lot of money. Someone worked for industry, someone worked for the government. It wasn't so bad, because in the United States the government is technically not very competent, I don't know how in other countries. I think that in general, there are few educated people in the United States whose work is well paid, and the salaries of scientists are low. (Laughter in the audience.)

If we study not only diseases, what other prospects can the study of genes give?

Is the genome responsible only for diseases? I wouldn't say that. Studying it would allow us to learn a lot about a person's personality: normal people manifest themselves in different ways, they have different characters... By examining DNA, we can understand how evolution went, because DNA is also the result of evolution. Then biotechnology: in order to get good commercial products, genome research is also necessary. But there are other possible applications — alternative ways of obtaining energy, enzymes with improved characteristics. All this will make our life better. Therefore, I think that people who study the structure of DNA and the human genome act wisely.

When studying mental disorders, a lot of ethical problems arise. Which way will the development of society go: when an unborn child is diagnosed with a mental disorder, will an abortion be recommended, or will treatment still be recommended?

Genetics does not create ethical problems by itself, and I think the social aspects will find a solution. Some people succeed in society, some do not succeed, but everyone plays their role. There are, for example, mathematicians — not as socially active, not as contact as other people. But they are happy that they are good mathematicians.

It is known that you have been dealing with the problem of racial differences in DNA. Can you say that all races are equal and humanity is one?

There are genetic differences between people and between races. And, of course, if we live in different environments, in different conditions, then why shouldn't there be genetic differences? My skin is too light, I may develop skin cancer under the influence of ultraviolet radiation, and what should I do now? It is impossible to say that we are all the same, we differ from each other and within the same race. The fact that the evolution of our species has stopped is not true: evolution continues. And if there are differences between populations, why shouldn't there be differences between races? But I have not specifically studied this issue, no matter what they write in the newspapers.

Elena Kleshchenko recorded a lecture at the House of Scientists on July 3, 2008

Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru14.07.2008