Them?

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It's just how they're regulated that makes them different = it's just how the non-coding DNA differences have regulated the makes people different?

Context:

In recent years, researchers have recognised that non-coding DNA, which makes up about 98 per cent of the human genome, plays a critical role in determining whether genes are active or not and how much of a particular protein gets churned out.

Now, two teams have revealed dramatic differences between the non-coding DNA of people whose genes are 99 per cent the same. "We largely have the same sets of genes. It's just how they're regulated that makes them different," says Michael Snyder, a geneticist at Stanford University in California.

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Type: Question • Score: 3 • Views: 970 • Replies: 10

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"It's just how they're regulated"="It's just the differences between peope in how their genomes are regulated"
"that makes them different"="that make people different"

Pretty ambiguous use of pronouns on the writer's part.

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@MontereyJack,

Thanks. Now it's become clearer.
But ""It's just the differences between peope in how their genomes are regulated" sounds confusing for me.
"They're regulated" = "their genomes are regulated"?

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yes, first they refers to genome, second they refers to people.

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@MontereyJack,

Thank you.

Their genomes are regulated by non-coding DNA ?

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@MontereyJack,

Quote:

Now, two teams have revealed dramatic differences between the non-coding DNA of people whose genes are 99 per cent the same. "We [= people] largely have the same sets of genes. It's just how they're [1] regulated that makes them [2] different,"

Quote:

MJ: Pretty ambiguous use of pronouns on the writer's part.

I don't believe it's ambiguous. Just because, in this situation, 'them' can make sense referring to people, genes are integral to regulating the people, doesn't mean that people is the antecedent.

they [1] = genes

them [2] = genes

?? It's just how the people are regulated that makes the people different ??

It's just how the genes are regulated that makes the genes different

It's just how the genes are regulated that makes the genes/people different

The focus is on DNA, on genes.

"two teams have revealed dramatic differences between the non-coding DNA"

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No, the point is that the genes are the SAME, but the regulation is different, which is what makes PEOPLE different, so "they" refers to the genome, "them" to people.

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@MontereyJack,

Quote:

No, the point is that the genes are the SAME, but the regulation is different, which is what makes PEOPLE different, so "they" refers to the genome, "them" to people.

It really doesn't matter in this case, MJ, because semantically it works out. Grammatically, English speakers don't just throw antecedents and pronouns around willy nilly.

What starts out the same, the genes, are then regulated differently which cause them to be different, the said effects create differences in people.

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No, JTT, the genes don't change. They stay the same. They;re turned on or off for different lengths of time, which produces different amounts of whatever they code for in the organism and that changes the organism. But the genome itself doesn't change.

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And of course we throw antecedents and pronouns around willynilly, which is why conversations derail often when its hard to tell who the person is talking about when you can't figure out which "him" of several is actually being referred to at a given time.

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@MontereyJack,

We're not going to ever be able to sort this out, MJ, even allowing that you have made a valid point here.

It's just how they're regulated that makes them different,

They're turned on or off for different lengths of time,

That would be the "they're regulated" part.

which produces different amounts of whatever they code for in the organism and that changes the organism.

That same regulation makes the genes different for that period of time, the regulation makes them different.

If there is a shift away from the focus of the pronoun, English speakers tend to revert to a noun to keep things clear.

Again, it's possible that the speaker meant people and because the situation was so semantically seamless he didn't feel it necessary to swith to the noun.

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Them?

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