Meh. I believe China is building a DNA database. It is not about organ matching though. That's not what you look at when you match an organ. This is (source: Life Source)
DNA is often misunderstood as the "blueprint" for an organism. It's not. It's a set of codes for proteins, that is, it's a toolbox. Some tools are turned on and available at certain times in a cell's life, then they're turned off. Some tools are made only in certain cell types. It's complex. More important is the set of and sequence of signals which determine when a cell starts making and utilizing the various tools in the toolbox. For example, turn off a retinoic acid signal too early and you end up with spina bifida. Leave it on too long and instead of stopping the neural tube early, you leave it on too long and you get a tail. Leave a signal on during hand formation and you'll get polydactyly, six fingers instead of five. It's so much more complicated that people commonly understand.
Collecting data like this is honestly mostly useful for scientific research at this point, given the extent of what what we don't know about how the "blueprint" actually works.
Meh. I believe China is building a DNA database. It is not about organ matching though. That's not what you look at when you match an organ. This is (source: Life Source)
DNA is often misunderstood as the "blueprint" for an organism. It's not. It's a set of codes for proteins, that is, it's a toolbox. Some tools are turned on and available at certain times in a cell's life, then they're turned off. Some tools are made only in certain cell types. It's complex. More important is the set of and sequence of signals which determine when a cell starts making and utilizing the various tools in the toolbox. For example, turn off a retinoic acid signal too early and you end up with spina bifida. Leave it on too long and instead of stopping the neural tube early, you leave it on too long and you get a tail. Leave a signal on during hand formation and you'll get polydactyly, six fingers instead of five. It's so much more complicated that people commonly understand.
Collecting data like this is honestly mostly useful for scientific research at this point, given the extent of what what we don't know about how the "blueprint" actually works.