We all share 99.9% of each other’s genes, the remaining 0.1% is what makes some of us more susceptible to diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Cancer, Diabetes, Heart Disease and a vast array of other conditions.

A couple of hundred scientists from various countries have spent the last few years working away at trying to identify the genetic differences between people. They have been trying to break down the human genome.

269 volunteers were involved in this fete. Some of them came from the Yoruba tribe, Nigeria, others were citizens of Tokyo, Japan, from Beijing, China and European Americans from Utah, USA. The geneticists analysed these people’s DNA and built up a map of their genetic diversity (a map showing their genetic differences). The map is based on haplotypes. Haplotypes are large chunks of DNA that contain a unique battery of single mutations – these mutations are inherited together in identical blocks.

The map is called a HapMap (Hap is taken from the word Haplotypes). The scientists have managed to identify and map over one million single mutations to their haplotypes.

Now, the scientists can make comparisons between groups of people who are susceptible to certain diseases and those that are not. They do this by using the HapMap. We will be able to find the genes that cause certain diseases to happen much more quickly as a result of this work, say the scientists – 20 times more quickly, they say.

You can read all about this in the coming issue of Nature, October 27th, 2005.

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today