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signaturing

 The federation indulges in a great deal of terraforming projects, however existing organisms that can cope with the transient stages of such projects may not exist, therefore scientists have to fall back on genetic modification to create organisms with the correct specifications. But these new forms of animals need to be identified as a variant, this is the process of signaturing.

There are many common modifications made to an organism’s genome to enable it to survive in a environment it was not designed for, changes include tolerance to lower atmospheric pressures or different gas ratios, or in plants to allow for nutrient poor or salt rich regoliths, most of the time a suitable gene in a tolerant organism can be transferred and its advantages conferred.

Because of this the federation’s changing worlds are populated with plants that have fish genes, or bacteria with plant genes, which under close examination would appear to be as likely to find naturally as talking tree, but it is important for scientists to be able to identify the creatures that they have introduced, this also enables them to see if it has escaped the project and traveled somewhere new.

One of the suite of added features to a modified organism is the signature, rather than having to tediously analyse the organism’s entire genome to work it out, the biologists had devised a much more rapid way of determining origin. The signature itself is a compound set of genes bracketed either side by marking sequences. The marking sequences are palindromic and are found of either side of the inserted gene cluster these sequences also code for a protein product stops another gene product from killing the cell, this way cells with altered markers die, and no modified organism can masquerade as normal. Inside these marker sequences are the promoters and genes for the introduced traits, as well as the signature. The signature is a long repeating sequence of genetic material (as not all genetic material is familiar DNA, even amongst the federation races there is great variety in the structure of gene encoding molecule), which matches a reference code to match the organism. In the gene set there are also two other genes one codes for a polymerase and its expression is controlled by an operator that is sensitive to a protein binding site in the marker sequences, the other is a helicase (or equivalent function depending on genetic material, its function opens up the strand for replication, and therefore removes the need for forced strand separation) which is controlled polycistronically  with the polymerase gene.

This complex suite is tailored for rapid analysis, when a sample cell is taken lysed, and combined with a protein that binds to the marker site, this protein excises that segment of genetic material and triggers the strand separation and replication by simultaneously binding to these gene’s operators, and encouraging the strand replicating protein products. Soon the sample is flooded with the replicated gene suite, which can be separated off by mass and sequenced. This process provides rapid an accurate labeling of modified species which is hardy against mutation or dysfunction.
 

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