Detailed publication of the map of human gene variants

October 17, 2008 - A group of international scientists has published a map of the human gene variant that has been evaluated to be the most detailed and complete ever.

This is an important step to help clarify the genetic causes of disease and the mysteries of human evolution.

Human gene variant map (HapMap) is a study of a group of scientists from many countries around the world. The first genome-decoding map was published in 2005, but at that time only discovered about 1 million individual variants of genetic code, often called single nucleotide morphology (SNP).

Meanwhile, this "second generation" gene variant has been supplemented with more than 3.1 million SNPs, helping to clarify the differences in the genetic genome of 270 people, the subject of research in countries. Nigeria, USA, China and Japan.

According to scientists, the genomes of any two people are similar to 99.99%. However, only 0.01% of the remaining small amount is enough to make a difference of many traits from eye color to the ability to withstand disease .

The team of scientists from the Oxfort University (UK) who participated in the study said the authors of the study found a link between more than 60 common DNA variants and the risk of diseases or Related characteristics. As a result, these SNPs or combinations between them are considered a cause of increased risk of coronary arteries, arthritis and diabetes.

According to experts from the International HapMap Complex, the new gene variant map will help researchers increase their ability to compare and contrast in their studies to find out why people tend to There is a particular disease, while others are immune to the disease, or why there are people who respond well to medications, and others do not.