Express Series by Jo JIn Ho

This book has a startling value as the science in Korea is still unstable and has not settled down. It’s a blessing for the Korean science circle to have a book of this level in Korea, a barren land in basic science. ―Kim Woo Jae (Drosophila Geneticist, Professor of Cell Molecular Science, Ottawa University)

Genome Express is a ground breaking work. The book goes beyond just telling what genes are The book shows what questions were asked by scholars from Aristotle to Erwin Schrodinger about the identity of life and the flow of life information, and how they were answered by physicists and biologists. The author tells us through history that science is not about information but questioning, and not a matter of efficiency but attitude. It is a book that teachers and scientists need to read through the end. If teenagers read the book, they will be enlightened at least 30 years earlier than their senior scientists. ―Lee Jung Mo (Seoul Science Center, Chief)

Publication Date : Aug 18, 2016

Pages : 424

ISBN 9788960869738

This book has a startling value as the science in Korea is still unstable and has not settled down. It’s a blessing for the Korean science circle to have a book of this level in Korea, a barren land in basic science. ―Kim Woo Jae (Drosophila Geneticist, Professor of Cell Molecular Science, Ottawa University)

Genome Express is a ground breaking work. The book goes beyond just telling what genes are The book shows what questions were asked by scholars from Aristotle to Erwin Schrodinger about the identity of life and the flow of life information, and how they were answered by physicists and biologists. The author tells us through history that science is not about information but questioning, and not a matter of efficiency but attitude. It is a book that teachers and scientists need to read through the end. If teenagers read the book, they will be enlightened at least 30 years earlier than their senior scientists. ―Lee Jung Mo (Seoul Science Center, Chief)

Book synopsis

"The birth of this book is an astonishing event in itself!” Startling intellectual exploration to track the footprints after the birth of gene"

Genome Express is a graphic novel that depicts the journey of genetic discovery that has drastically expanded the horizons of human perception over a short span of one hundred plus years. The book discovers DNA and takes a bumpy and tense journey of the science history that tracks DNA’s functions in order to uncover the mysteries of life that have continued the enormous flow of life while keeping the order of inheritance. This book offers journeys of academic challenges and failures by scholars who wrote down the history of genes including Gregor Mendel , the first biologist who statistically proved the laws of genetics, Morgan, who traced the location of the traits through persistent and repetitive experiments, James Dewey Watson and Francis Crick, who discovered the structure of DNA. Substance of Genes, defined under various names such as “Blueprint containing Life Information” and “Books containing Human Information,” seemed to be clarified through the “Genome Project,” which solved all the sequences of three billion human base pairs. The book emphasizes that the history of genes that enjoyed a golden era at the same time of discovery was actually a history of failure rather than a history of success. Watching the struggles of scientists with bigger problems and questions, we can realize that the identity of a gene, which is compressed information of life into an encrypted form, is not a narrow concept that can be defined by a few materials. This book sheds interesting light on the entire journey of scientific history surrounding genes without making the mistake of wrapping the whole with partial findings on genes.

Detailed outline

We vaguely know that all living creatures, including human beings, pass on something to next generation that would make them look alike. Today, that something is called a gene.. Genes give people the idea that they are concrete materials that enable genetic phenomenon. A substance with so many meanings... If a gene is a substance, what kind of substance is it specifically?

01 Imagine Genes : Invention of Gene All living creatures give birth to offsprings that look almost perfectly alike without exception. It may not look extraordinary as we see it all the time but there is nothing more miraculous than this. It seems clear that moderately large creatures have the ability to create something that can remember and reproduce themselves in a small medium, such as sperm, egg, pollen, seed, etc., that connects generations with generations. How on earth can they do such a miraculous work?

02 Into the Cell : Genes in the chromosomes of the cell…? Being able to see cells through microscope was a huge milestone in understanding life. All large creatures like human beings are made up of countless cells, and some special cells, such as sperm and eggs, are merged into a single cell, which becomes a large group of cells just like their parents after repeating division and growth. As the advanced microscope allowed people to take a closer look into the cells, the chromosome inside the cells caught our attention. Is the chromosome the gene we have been searching for?

03 Into the Abyss : The World of Molecular Human beings have achieved invention of techniques that go beyond microscope, and division of cells into smaller ones. We also learned that molecules such as proteins and nucleic acids make up chromosomes. Human beings have indeed been constantly digging deep into smaller things. These efforts will eventually bring a promising prospect on understanding what genes are.

04 What is gene? : Is genetic material Protein or DNA? Biochemists had discovered early that chromosomes were made up of macro molecule called protein and nucleic acid. Next question, naturally,was which of proteins or nucleic acids plays a key role in the functioning of genes. Contrary to many scientists’ expectations, nucleic acid rather than protein emerged as a strong candidate for genes. The question, however, is in what ways genes operate.

05 Genes, It must be so : Definition of Gene by Schrodinger Although we have entered a narrow path to witness the identity of genes, it still remained awkwardly unclear how genes function. We learned about its possible function as enzymes but well know that this is far from sufficient. How does a gene as a small substance contain all the information of large, complex creatures? It’s time to sit down and fundamentally think about what gene is all about instead of just wandering around genes in the narrow path. Schrodinger devised a kind of model for the functionality of genes.

06 Identity of DNA : Schrodinger’s genes are hidden in the structure of DNA Some scientists completely agree with Schrodinger’s prediction that genes are a singledimensionally listed digital sequence like letters and Morse codes. Based on various scientific circumstances, it also seemed certain that DNA, a type of nucleic acid, was a substantial material of gene. It became a clear goal to find out how genes are positioned inside DNA. What scientists had to do was to discover how DNA was specifically structured. This led to a fierce race by three scientist groups.

07 It’s almost done! : Digital information found in DNA Some scientists are well aware that they came close to discovering the structure of DNA and clearly know how much the discovery means in the history of biology. They ran in races to uncover the substance of DNA in similar yet different ways. The race was won by newcomers, Watson and Crick, who grabbed the glory of victory. In order for a DNA-recognized gene to be fully qualified as a gene, a verification was required on its cryptographic system where the sequence of DNA was linked to life’s information. Experimental scientists including Marshall Nirenberg and Khorana have decoded a link between DNA sequencing and the amino acid sequence of proteins, which led biology to the era of glory.

08 Great Victory : Discover Genetic program, the principles of gene that makes life Scientists thought they had a clear understanding of gene when they found the structure of DNA and genetic code that was linked to the sequence of protein amino acids. What remained were minor questions, one of which, and important one, was when and how Gene Expression would occur. Mono and Jacob came close to the secret of gene expression by figuring out E.Coli’s way of gene expression.. They were sure that the same would apply to human beings that were more complex and larger than E. coli. It seemed clear that the sequence of DNA was controlling all the information of gigantic creatures by operating a genetic program that interacts with proteins at the most fundamental and deepest degree. Have we finally discovered the secrets of the genes? Have we indeed?

09 Got lost : Genes Are Scattered As genetics gradually discovers more and more details, doubts began to arise on Schrodinger’s genetic model and genetic program. It is obvious that DNA exists and has information about proteins. Didn’t we impart too much meaning to DNA though? DNA might not be the conductor or hold any information in itself.

10 The Truth Faced at the Bottom : There is Hardly Anything An ambitious project to identify all the DNA sequencing of life was a success, which led to the discovery of the sequence of bases in many other creatures, including human beings. However, scientists loomingly foresaw that there was a difference between finding all the sequencing information and revealing the secrets of life. Scientists realized that the sequence of bases is one of numerous data that makes life exist, and learned that a lot about genes cannot be explained by the digital information model that Schrodinger predicted. In fact, it was not possible for information to have meanings in itself. Meaningful information was presented rather through front and back context, than by itself. Where should we go from here? Was the original genetic model created wrong from the beginning?

11 Escape : Lost Genes Human beings were amazed at the incredible level of organization of life. The journey in search of genes began with a question of how fertilized eggs became such sophisticated forms of creatures. Initial focus was on chromosomes, which later moved onto DNA. A victorious celebration was made when human beings finally found out that DNA sequencing information was linked to life's information. However, a series of discoveries following the victory implied that the gene was much more equivocal and intricate than originally expected. The gene itself is not solid nor holds all the information. What was solid was actually the development process and all the information was newly created. There is no single Genetic Material responsible for heredity. Maybe we need to throw away the idea that gene is a material. Gene is more of a particular gigantic process created by materials and energy.

12 On the way back… : What is information of life It seems that the adventure of discovering genetic materials is a failure. A new question, however, is arising at the end of the adventure. When did this amazing genetic phenomenon begin and how did it come about? How could the highly complicated genetic phenomenon occur spontaneously? Evolution of life emerged at the end of the genetics.. In order to understand why the current genetic phenomenon occurred, we must discover the principles that evolve creatures and trace back to the history of evolution. A new journey awaits us.