Ask Ms. Jessica Issue 34 – Preventing or causing mutations

(The content for Ask Ms. Jessica comes from real questions from real people sent to AskMsJessica@gmail.com)

Dear Ms. Jessica,

Given the development of gene editing technology, is it possible for someone (with a ridiculous amount of money) to possibly prevent a future mutation from happening? Or possibly give themselves a specific mutation?

I want to make this very clear. Do not, under ANY circumstances, try to prevent or undo a mutation using any means. 

Preventing a mutation is not only morally wrong, it is also dangerous. It’s been quite a bit of time since mutations started appearing, and different cultures have used all manner of methods to try and “de-mutant” people, from gene therapy to just hacking off extra limbs with surgical saws.

But it never works. In fact, it backfires. Trying to remove or prevent a mutation tends to cause the mutant gene to kick into overdrive. We theorize it’s because the body perceives these attempts as a sort of threat, and ends up reading from several sectors of junk DNA in order to defend itself. What does this mean? It means that trying to prevent a mutation will actually cause further, more drastic mutations.

And when we say drastic, we mean drastic. Mutant levels tend to increase once or twice after an attempt to prevent a mutation. Mutations become drastic, wild, and unpredictable. Sometimes the brain will end up mutating, causing wild shifts in personality and emotion. Some mutants who have tried to reverse their mutation end up nothing like the people they used to be! You are gambling with your very identity, not just your body. 

Not only that, but a threatened mutant gene can cause problems with other people around it. One attempt to reverse a fusion actually caused the mutant to fuse with everyone in the operating room. Another attempt to cut off extra limbs cause the stumps to release a sort of spore that activated the mutant gene of anyone who had one! Seriously, these can be actual threats to public safety because they are so unpredictable.

This is why most countries have made “anti-mutant” gene therapy or mutant correction physical surgeries illegal. While there are still some back alley practitioners that promise miracle cures, I implore you, DO NOT BUY THEIR SNAKE OIL! It will only end up worse for you and everyone involved.

Now about purposefully causing a mutation, this is much less dangerous. Truth be told, we aren’t quite sure if you can specifically cause a mutation right now. Major labs all across the world are doing research into that very subject. Access Labs is probably the most well-known one.

You see, as far as we can tell, this comes down to specific areas of junk DNA sequencing once more. If a mutant with a mutant gene is exposed to a DNA sample that is similar to a strain of DNA in their junk DNA, you can sort of kickstart the mutant gene into reading that junk DNA and causing a mutation. This is why some animal mutants mutate when coming in contact with said animal. 

People with mutant genes can also come in contact with “mutagen.” Mutagens are substances that specifically attempt to cause mutations. Usually they are catalysts that interfere with the normal chemical genetic machinery of a person’s cells. 

Are you familiar with CRISPR? It’s a type of gene therapy that is kind of like a pair of scissors that cuts out certain genetic information and replaces it with new information. You could, theoretically, activate a mutant gene, find the piece of junk DNA it’s trying to read, and then use a CRISPR based mutagen to rewrite that sequence in order to get the mutation you want.

However, usage of mutagens is currently illegal outside of certain authorized labs. It’s simply too unpredictable to be available to the general public. This is why the mutagenic field is so booming right now. There is so much we don’t know. Imagine if we could use the properties of mutation to allow people to just, like, mutate cancer away!

Access Labs is actually very lucky to have a willing participant in their experiments. Karin Beckett is a level four mutant whose genetic makeup is incredibly unstable. She is very receptive to mutagens, and luckily enough, has many redundant copies of her base DNA. You might have seen Access Labs test footage before of her “reverting” to her normal human body. This has led many to believe that mutations are reversible. On the contrary, she is simply mutating again and again, mutating to a new form, and then mutating back to her “normal” form, one mutation overwriting another almost endlessly.

Now, this does mean that there are some interesting applications we learned from her experiences with mutagen. For example, it should be theoretically possible for a specific mutagen to allow a mutant to temporarily “undo” their mutation, or even “try on” the mutation of another mutant. However, this is all still in theoretical space right now and is way, way too experimental to be made available to the public. Besides, we aren’t sure we would want to make mutagens like this available to the public anyway. Could you imagine what unethical things people could and would do with them? 

It’s really just better to let mutations happen naturally. They are a part of who you are. Embrace them as such.

Dr. Jessica Park

AskMsJessica@gmail.com