Almost all of the DNA is the same from person to person. SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) are used to identify the nucleotides that are different in each human genome. This is a useful technique when trying to understand your heritage or your predisposition to a disease. As you watch Personal DNA Testing (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site., please consider the ethical considerations that were discussed.

Now let’s visit a virtual lab center and see up close what SNPs are and how the techniques work.

Let’s visit

• Making SNPs Make Sense (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. Genetic Science Learning Center, 1 February 2016. http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/precision/s… : 2016

Get started by clicking on “What is SNP” button. Go through the 3 chapters as they will help you answer questions 1-6 below. After you complete this, continue to scroll down the page to learn more details about SNPs and how they may help us understand ourselves and help doctors find cures to diseases.

As go through the activities, answer the following questions:

(You are not required to turn in you responses, but you may see these questions on a quiz or exam.)

1. What are 3 major ways humans differ from each other?
2. Define what a SNP is.
3. About how many SNPs do researchers estimate there are?
4. What is a haplotype?
5. How many haplotypes does each person have?
6. Explain how albuterol prescriptions may change with SNP data.
7. What are the 2 main approaches utilized to identify, catalog, and characterize SNPs?
8. What are Linked SNPs?
9. What are Causative SNPs?
   • What are Coding SNPs?
   • What are Non-Coding SNPs?
10. If your genome has a SNP that is associated with a disease, does that mean you will get sick?
    • Why or why not?