Gene  science   is   in  its  infancy.   In  the  fifty  years  since  the discovery of DNA, scientists have been working to identify (‘map’) the individual genes that make up organisms. They have learned how to cut genes out of a DNA chain and have developed techniques for transferring genes from one organism into another.

However, the most complicated part of gene science is not yet understood.  Scientists have not fully discovered all the mechanisms that allow genes to interact with other genes, or how gene families have co-evolved to form an intricate, interconnected network of finely balanced functions. Nor do they fully understand how gene behaviour is effected by the chemical environment within an organism or the ecological surroundings in which an organism lives.