Crispr and supers

[Toptomcat]

How soft are you planning to make your sci-fi? Are people developing small, relatively realistic pseudopowers like enhanced intelligence, better reflexes, limited regenerative capabilities, etc.? Or are they shooting lasers out of their eyes, picking up oil tankers, and running faster than the speed of sound?

The more outlandish and varied the powers in your setting are, the less you have to work to find a reasonable justification for them, and the more you can lean on the MS3K Mantra. Mumble some things about an X-gene and get on with it.

The less outlandish they are, the more you can lean on a specific explanation, and the more you have to think about exactly what kind of powers can be justified by their shared origin.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by scc

You're talking about XYY male's right?

Pretty sure he's talking about most of the chromosones except the sex chromosomes. The sex chromosomes are exceptional for being able to support a lot of repetition (XXX, XXY, XYY, XXYY) because of how they work in mammals, and for the same reason OX (single X) females are also pretty healthy (if sterile). OY is fatal.

There's a few (e.g. 15, 18, and 21) where trisomy causes lifespan shortening health problems (and low fertility) - trisomy 21 being the least severe of the three but is not immediately nonviable. However, when e.g. only 10% of trisomy 18 children survive to age 10, it's pretty bad. The other chromosomes (not the sex chromosomes, 15, 18, or 21) are generally worse.

Whereas with plants, six or more duplications of a chromosome is not unheard of, and can be pretty advantageous. The wheat genome is gigantic because of all the duplications.

Gene duplication rather than whole chromosome duplication is much more survivable in mammals. In dogs, gene (not chromosome) duplication is responsible for the large diversity of skull and body shapes within the species - dogs have a lot of genes which effectively code for "more of X" where X is some physical feature like length of muzzle or down/up-sweep of muzzle; mutations that add lots more copies of those genes just change the dogs shape, rather than kill the dog, and dogs seem to be particularly prone to those kinds of mutations. Cats have a similar thing with polydactyl traits - there's one version of the polydactyl gene sequence that can be merrily repeated, and each repetition just adds another toe to the cat's paws. There's another mutation that makes the cat very prone to producing sex cells that have more duplicates of that polydactyl gene sequence, leading to an ever escalating number of toes in one cat colony. The gene for extra fingers is much less aggressive in humans, and humans tend to be less inbred.

[Lameth]

Originally Posted by Toptomcat

How soft are you planning to make your sci-fi? Are people developing small, relatively realistic pseudopowers like enhanced intelligence, better reflexes, limited regenerative capabilities, etc.? Or are they shooting lasers out of their eyes, picking up oil tankers, and running faster than the speed of sound?

The more outlandish and varied the powers in your setting are, the less you have to work to find a reasonable justification for them, and the more you can lean on the MS3K Mantra. Mumble some things about an X-gene and get on with it.

The less outlandish they are, the more you can lean on a specific explanation, and the more you have to think about exactly what kind of powers can be justified by their shared origin.

I would not say "outlandish" haha, but ya they are all over the board. Ala Heroes or the Gift TV show. No one is throwing tanks or ripping up the golden gate, but ya, I have all kinds. Psionics, elemental shapers, Super IQ, Invisibility, etc.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Bruno

...
Gene duplication rather than whole chromosome duplication is much more survivable in mammals. In dogs, gene (not chromosome) duplication is responsible for the large diversity of skull and body shapes within the species - dogs have a lot of genes which effectively code for "more of X" where X is some physical feature like length of muzzle or down/up-sweep of muzzle; mutations that add lots more copies of those genes just change the dogs shape, rather than kill the dog, and dogs seem to be particularly prone to those kinds of mutations. Cats have a similar thing with polydactyl traits - there's one version of the polydactyl gene sequence that can be merrily repeated, and each repetition just adds another toe to the cat's paws. There's another mutation that makes the cat very prone to producing sex cells that have more duplicates of that polydactyl gene sequence, leading to an ever escalating number of toes in one cat colony. The gene for extra fingers is much less aggressive in humans, and humans tend to be less inbred.

It also allows rather rapid evolution. Like how people that have cultivated starchy foods for a long time have more genes for production of amylase thus allowing better digestion of such foods.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Originally Posted by Lameth

Another theory that I am playing with is the possible overuse of CRISPR late 90s and early 2000s. Essentially the altering of the gene pool somehow activated a latent gene in the population over the last 25years.

As a biology major, there are a lot of questions I have about this, ranging from "'Latent gene'? Really?" to "Wait, what does CRISPR have to do with activating a completely unrelated gene?" But I'm not sure those sorts of questions belong in a typical supers story.

Is this a possible theory that could be cooked up on the world?

It depends on the data. Okay, I guess it doesn't. In a world where people believe the world is flat, Hillary Clinton ran a child sex trafficking ring from a pizza parlor, and that the CIA could assassinate JFK without any leaks, evidence clearly doesn't have much impact on what people believe. But for lots of people to take it seriously, let alone experts...
Well, the big thing to consider is that we can detect what genes have been activated in the lab. So in order for the latent-gene theory to be plausible, either something needs to be activating genes or it needs to be effectively impossible to get active super cells into laboratory conditions. (Maybe super tissues degrade rapidly when removed from the super, or maybe activating powers transforms your biochemistry into something unrecognizable, or maybe all supers just really hate needles.)

In your opinion what are some possible plot lines to be explored with this tech and this theory?

Step 1, discover the latent gene. Step 2, earn Nobel Prize. Step 3, other people start doing other things, including but not limited to:

• Super-soldiers
• Failed super-soldiers
• Deactivating super-genes in captive supers
• Look for homologous genes in other organisms, earn Nobel Prize, and open the path to other people making super-dogs and the like

You can't do much without step 1. But if you can identify the super-gene...well, the sky is potentially the limit.

[AlexanderHowl]

A more likely scenario is that a 'super' gene is discovered after attempts to genetically engineer human embryos. It could be in the 'junk' DNA, and the genetic engineering of human embryo alters its placement so that it 'reads' as an active gene instead of an inactive gene. When the first babies are born with the active gene, scientists would rapidly start realizing that something was unusual when they started manifesting powers and would discover the newly active gene. If the government did not act soon enough to stop them from revealing their data, then every nation would start genetically engineering their own super babies.

[Flyndaran]

If these super gene(s) existed but are all turned off, then why? What forces killed all those with functional super traits off in the distant past?

Answering that question may help with other details.

[AlexanderHowl]

They do not have to be turned off if they are in the 'inactive' DNA. They could just have formed as mutations in the 'junk' DNA over the course of millions of years of evolution. The addition of other genes during genetic engineering would have moved their 'place in the line', so to speak, allowing them to finally be expressed. Now, the question would be what do they actually do to allow super powers, since most high energy superpowers are beyond to scope of proteins.

[Extrarius]

Originally Posted by Lameth

Ohhhh never thought of the blast, good idea. Besides a meteor carring some form of alien bio matter, or perhaps strange radiation, it could also be something more odd like the hypothesis of some form of deep beneath the earth build up of a gas caused it, maybe releasing something chemical from the “hollow earth”. Who knows?

Or the blast started a slow awakening of Deep Old Ones (which may or may not be related to powers appearing).

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

If these super gene(s) existed but are all turned off, then why? What forces killed all those with functional super traits off in the distant past?

Epigenetics.

Short description, some genes are activated in response to conditions, rather than on a schedule regulated by other genes. Once activated they can remain activated in subsequent generations. There are genes activated in response to starvation that make the metabolism more conservative and prone to packing on fat - and once activated, they're visibly active three generations on. We're not sure how long that particular gene sequence will remain activated.

So have some genes that are deactivated by default because they come with a survivability cost under "normal" circumstances (like a tendency to pack on WAY TOO MUCH fat in times of plenty). The obvious thing with "super" genes is that some "super powers" are dangerous to yourself or to close family, or just make it hard to attract a mate (making you funny looking a-la many X-Men mutants is a traditional trope).
Have them activated by a weird event (anything from your list or others). Once activated, they can be inherited, and now from a single event you can have multiple generations of supers, and they're not even mutants.