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LEGO Genetics: Difference between revisions
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This comes from the way genetics is taught in middle and high school: The double-helix is like a ladder, with the rungs being nucleobases Adenine, Cytosine, Thymine, and Guanine. Each rung fits together, A to T, and C to G. Mix each rung around and presto! You got a tail! This is also how it's portrayed in movies with CG[[hottip:*:[[A Worldwide Punomenon|or GC, or possibly AT or TA ]] effects showing the double helix spinning around, taking out one rung and putting another in, with the whole thing glowing to show how it's been affected.
This trope gets even stranger when the genes in question come from somewhere besides Earth. DNA is not just "genetic material." It's a specific molecule that we humans, and almost every living thing on Earth, use. It's one of boundless possible candidates for the job. Viruses may use DNA or its sister RNA for their genome, and there have even been some (highly controversial) studies that indicate there may be microorganisms that use Arsenic in their genetic material where we use Phosphorus. There's no reason to think extraterrestrial genetic material should be the same as ours. Additionally, DNA contains lots of special little sequences besides genes. These include viruses that simply hopped onto our DNA and get copied with it (endogenous viruses), sequences which are apparently just "junk" we can't get rid of, and sequences which tell cells how often to turn on each gene and when to shut it down. This also requires that almost all living cells on Earth interpret a gene the same way. That's the genetic code; almost all cells interpret a particular sequence of three "rungs" to mean the same amino acid when they turn the gene on and start making protein. Yet when the plot demands it, an alien has DNA and all the ancillary stuff to compatible with our genetic heritage. That's so absurdly improbable that if an organism from another planet were to have DNA at all, rather than some other possible molecule, most scientists would immediately start wondering if we had a common origin (or scream "Hoax!") In fiction, aliens have DNA and interpret it just as things which evolved on Earth do. [[No Biochemical Barriers]] indeed! Just slap it into our cells and away we go making a [[Half
It should be noted that gene therapy, the alteration, addition or removal of existing genes in an adult organism, [[Truth in Television|does really exist]]. However, it can be more problematic than presented in fiction, and can wear off after a little while. Additionally, it normally requires very complicated surgery (or the use of gutted viruses) to carry out; you can't simply inject some foreign DNA into your blood and wait for the mutations to take place. Addition of genes via plasmids (segments of DNA or RNA transplanted between organisms) also exists; it is how viruses reproduce and how bacteria and small beings can adapt. Human experimentation has reproduced this, but this is limited to adding new traits to ''cells'', that may propogate, but don't form new structures. For more information, try [[Useful Notes/Genetics]] or [[The Other Wiki]].
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Often results in [[Animorphism]], or discussion about how the character is [[Evolutionary Levels|"evolving" or "devolving"]], because [[Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke]]. See also [[Magic Genetics]] and [[Unstable Genetic Code]]. [[Bio Augmentation]] is a likely application.
{{examples
== Anime and Manga ==
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== Literature ==
* ''[[Maximum Ride]]'' abuses this trope big time. The main characters are [[Half
** And quite a few that don't, including Angel's ability to transform into either a giant bird or a girl with dark hair, Iggy's ability to "see" colors, and Nudge's ability to become magnetic at will.
* Spoofed in the ''[[Discworld]]'' novel ''The Last Continent'', in which the God of Evolution explains that he was hoping to make the burnt offerings more efficient by finding the instruction that tells a cow to be soggy, and replacing it with the instruction that tells a tree to be flammable. It doesn't work, although in the way it ''really'' wouldn't work: he ends up with a bush that produces milk and makes distressed mooing sounds.
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* The ''[[Sushi Pack]]'' episode "Fish Tales," Oleander teams up with a scientist who specializes in "DNA stuff that can alter human beings." By combining his DNA stuff with her "special" seafood bisque (and Kani's recently shed shell), Oleander is instantly endowed with a crab shell on her back, and her hands turn into pincers. The effect only [[Hour of Power|lasts for two hours]], though.
* In ''[[Street Sharks]]'', [[Big Bad|Dr. Paradigm]] literally stacks segments of DNA onto each other like Lego. He comments it like: "A little bit of this, a little bit of that, add some splicing agent, radiation and done."
* In the 1980's ''[[Jonny Quest]]'' episode "Peril of the Reptilian," not only does Dr. Phorbus create his lizardman by [[Did Not Do the Research|combining human DNA with DNA from ''dinosaur bones'']] he also has an entire island full of mix-n-matched dinosaurs such as a tyrannosaurus with pterodactyl wings, and a pterodactyl with a brontosaurus head and neck. (Since Phorbus touts the lizardman as his ultimate creation, these latter creatures seem to [[For Science!|serve no purpose]].)
* In ''[[The Whywhy Family]]'' episode about genetics, Micro and Scopo shrink down and go inside Zygo to show Victor how DNA works. Victor physically moves Zygo's genes around like building blocks, causing him to turn into a multitude of other animals.
* Played with in "[[Family Guy (Animation)|Family Guy]] Gay" when Peter is injected with the squirrel gene and gay gene. He also gains the Seth Rogen gene which gives him the appearance of being funny even though he hasn't done anything funny.
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[[Category:Artistic License Biology]]
[[Category:Lego Genetics]]
[[Category:Trope]][[Category:Pages with comment tags]]
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