Learn about the possibilities and limitations of genetic modification as depicted in the movie The Amazing Spider-Man, with examples of current applications. Genetic modification is already possible within certain limits, but applying it to humans still poses many challenges and ethical issues.

Introduction

Spider-Man is a movie superhero that still thrills me to this day as he weaves his web and flies like Tarzan through the skyscrapers of New York City. In the movie The Amazing Spider-Man, the main character is bitten by a genetically engineered spider that gives him the ability to climb walls, have faster reflexes, and greatly enhanced muscle strength. The main character, Peter, develops a “web-shooter” that he buys from the company that manufactures the stronger-than-iron webbing from the “genetically-engineered spider” he was bitten by, which allows him to move freely through the forest of buildings. The film also features another genetically altered character, Dr. Curtis Connors. Dr. Connors injects himself with a lizard-derived injection to regenerate his amputated arm, but against his will, his entire body turns into a dinosaur. The movie is based on the technology of genetic manipulation, the process of giving one creature the characteristics of another.
Genetic modification and biotechnology may be just a movie or science fiction, but the possibilities are so great that it’s the second most invested of the top six emerging technologies, after IT. If movie events become reality, we could cure Alzheimer’s disease by applying the regenerative powers of zebra fish to brain cells, or we could actually create whale humans. In the age of centenarians, we are already focusing more on preventing disease and increasing the value of life than on technologies that keep people alive. We are trying to cure incurable genetic diseases. Therefore, I will look at examples that support or refute the idea of genetic modification in movies and give my opinion on how feasible it is in reality.

Genetic modification is possible

First of all, genetic modification is definitely possible and already in use. However, it is difficult to manipulate the genes of a large, complex organism like humans to create specific traits, and we don’t have an accurate understanding of the body’s metabolism. There are three main examples of how this technology is currently being used.
The first is insulin supplementation for diabetics. As a protein, insulin is relatively large, which limits the ability to chemically mass-produce it. So scientists have figured out how to make human insulin in other organisms and isolate it afterward. The technique used is genetic engineering. The genes for human insulin production are inserted into the genes of bacteria or mini-pigs to make insulin instead. Bacteria are often used for genetic engineering because of their relatively simple structure. If you mix the bacteria with a plasmid (a ring of DNA that is separate from the chromosomes in the cell) that contains the required DNA, there is a small but significant chance that the bacteria will acquire the gene and produce insulin. This manipulation has altered the metabolism of the organism.
The second example is the GMO foods that sometimes end up on our tables. These are usually created with the intention of combining the best features of two or more plants to create a superior plant. One such example is the famous “fish tomato”. This tomato has been upgraded with genes from a fish that lives in the deep ocean, rather than another plant. It received the “antifreeze” gene from the flounder, which lives in low temperatures, and acquired a cold tolerance that allows it to grow well in the cold. Hence the name “fish tomato”. This is an example of changing the characteristics of an organism.
Finally, there’s GloFish. An American company injected GFP (Green Fluorescent Protein), which is derived from jellyfish, into the embryos of pet fish to create fluorescent fish that glow brightly under normal white light and ultraviolet light. They started out green, but have now used genes from several different types of jellyfish and coral to create fish of different colors, and have succeeded in creating two other species of fluorescent fish besides the zebrafish used initially. If this is possible, it could be possible to create fluorescent humans or even cold-resistant humans. These three examples show that changing traits through genetic manipulation is not impossible.

Genetic manipulation is not possible

Despite all of the above, it can be argued that it is impossible to freely manipulate human genes. It would be tantamount to trespassing on God’s territory. This is because our understanding of genes, or more precisely, DNA, is not yet complete. Already in 2003, it was announced that the Human Genome Project was officially completed, sequencing all of our genes. However, these are just sequences of chemical structures, and we still don’t know exactly which sequences encode which proteins, what traits they exhibit, or how they interact with each other. For example, if we wanted to create a fluorescent human, we would want the fluorescent material to be produced only in the skin. There are two patterns of human development: differentiation, which is the qualitative development of cells, and quantitative development, which is pattern formation. Quantitative development regulates where and how certain cells develop. In other words, certain cells can only develop in certain places, which is why organisms have separate arms and torsos and separate bones and muscles. There are many obstacles to accurately expressing fluorescent DNA. Furthermore, the fluorescent DNA must not be masked when the cells differentiate into skin cells, and its expression must be turned off in other cells. To do this, there needs to be some protein that restricts the fluorescent DNA, and then there needs to be a gene for it. So genetic manipulation is not a simple matter of finding and inserting a specific piece of DNA, which is still only theoretically possible.
Let’s say we found all the genes to make a fluorescent human, it would still be impossible. Genetically modifying the entire skin would mean that it would have to be done from the embryo onward. With current technology, if you put a gene into an embryo, the cells might reject it or even die. Even if the gene is successfully delivered into the cell, there’s no way to know if the nucleus will accept the DNA, replicate it as part of the cell, and express the protein.
It’s also impossible to acquire multiple traits from different species at once, like Spider-Man. Fine hairs to climb walls, more sensitive nerve cells, muscle changes for greater strength, all of these changes would cause us to lose much of our human form. The other species would take over our bodies to a certain extent, making the movie’s lizard humans a more realistic transformation. Biologically speaking, in order to get the reflexes of spiders, we would have to shorten our spinal nerves or have a thicker layer of fat surrounding our nerve cells. However, this is not linked to the spider’s genes. We don’t know the outcome yet, but just as an atom can split at the slightest change, our bodies can become unstable and break down at the slightest change. Our genes have been optimally adapted over a long period of time. It would be impossible to change this overnight.

Conclusion

The creation of Spider-Men, lizard men, and other movie characters is not going to happen by accident. Basically, there are very few traits that humans share genetically with spiders. If a genetic change were to occur that would shake an organism to its foundations, that organism would have to undergo some degree of adaptation and evolution, if not the three million years that humans have been around. Gene expression is not just about whether a protein is made or not. As mentioned earlier, there are many factors that need to be addressed before a “Genetically Modified Human” can be created. Even if technological advancements lead to the creation of superheroes, they will conflict with existing ethical issues. If these superheroes use their powers to rob the weak (ordinary humans), it will only be fair if the entire human race is manipulated. But not everyone would want to do that.
Even if we did, there would be no ethical conflict with manipulation within the basic human genes, much less dangerous madman science experiments. In this context, manipulation within the basic genes means that the genes are altered so that a person can regain some of their original function. For example, it would be better to make your own insulin than to take a pill that is made outside the body. If a gene mutation causes the body to produce more mucus than it needs, manipulating that gene could be used to treat the deadly disease cystic fibrosis. This is medical gene manipulation. The movie only scratches the surface of the science and technology, but if you try to pinpoint it, you’ll miss the point of the movie. We just need to discover the problems that are happening in the real world and work tirelessly as medical scientists to achieve the “genetic manipulation that society needs most”.