The DNA Mystique: The Gene as a Cultural Icon

Preface to the Second Edition

refacetotheSecondEdition Reflecting DNA: The Gene as a Molecular Mirror of Twenty-first Century Culture P The spring of 2003 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the discovery of the helical structure of DNA, and the celebration, including dozens of elaborate public events, was a mass media bonanza tempered only by the hovering threat of an American invasion of Iraq. A story in a February issue of Time Magazine captured the essential tone of much of the reporting. The cover depicted a man and a woman (Adam and Eve?), each modestly wrapped in a double helix that concealed their private parts and twisted above them into thick tree trunks (the tree of life?). The caption promised to tell the story “Solving the Mysteries of DNA.” The only character missing from this religious iconography was the serpent. But the image, unambiguously associating DNA with Edenic origins , had a new twist. Adam and Eve appeared to be a multiracial couple.1 As it has so many times before, DNA functioned as a malleable icon in popular culture, easily adapted to address pre- vailing social issues and political perspectives. As the population and social mores in the United States shift, so too has the meaning of race. Genes, historically invoked to celebrate racial purity, have become symbols of racial diversity and shared human heritage. DNA’s power and persistence as a cultural icon reflect its plasticity and openness to interpretation. In popular culture, DNA can play a role in many different stories and even can appear to solve difficult social problems. A symbolic icon that bears only a limited resemblance to the biological entity to which it refers, DNA in American popular culture changes with the times. When we published the first edition of this book in 1995, we expected some changes. What we did not foresee was that DNA would grow in public importance and that many of the images that seemed to be tentative or suggestive in 1995 would become more elaborate and forceful as the years passed. The powers of DNA in popular culture have continued to evolve in step with public investments in the Human Genome Project and advances in clinical and agricultural biotechnology. Cynicism and humor about DNA have also proliferated. Cloning jokes alone fill several Web sites, and clones are commonly involved in comedic film plots and television programs. Far from disappearing from the limelight, genes remain widely discussed and parodied entities, the focus of ethical debates, press coverage, and public policy negotiations. The completion of a first draft of the human genome was a political event of such importance that in June 2000 both President Clinton and Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain held coordinated press conferences to announce the news: DNA is political territory, and mapping the genome was both a scientific and an economic breakthrough . Indeed, the selling, marketing, and commodification of DNA constitute perhaps the most striking element in recent trends. Mapping is the process of claiming territory—that was its historical purpose, and it remains so today in molecular genetics. The “commons” of human heredity has been divided up among the mappers, and the human genome is, essentially, entirely patented, with patents held about equally by private and public entities. Meanwhile the U.S. Patent P R E F A C E T O T H E S E C O N D E D I T I O N xii Office has issued patents on hundreds of transgenic rabbits, chickens, fish, mice, rats, bacteria, and other organisms. Class 800 at the patent office refers to genetically modified “multicellular living organisms” with subclasses for animals that manufacture proteins; test drugs; or model human diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, or immunodeficiency. These animals are essentially packages of DNA that have been transformed through human ingenuity. They are molecular widgets; industrialized products of nature; and valuable, patentable commodities. Much of the knowledge produced in molecular genetics is proprietary knowledge. Biotechnology and pharmaceutical firms support research in academe, and academic institutions own biological entities like inbred mice, viral vectors for gene therapy, and genes themselves. Nothing in molecular genetics today can be understood without paying attention to the deep transformation in the market value of biological knowledge. In the 50 years since the famous Watson and Crick paper, genetics has become an important corporate enterprise, and much of the promotion of genes and DNA reflects this commercial nexus. Scientists involved with genetics have also...