Thanks to companies like 23andMe and AncestryDNA, personal DNA testing is hot. For a couple hundred dollars or less, you can find out where your ancestors came from, in case you need to swap out your lederhosen for a kilt, as in one memorable ad. Most of us recall when DNA sequencing was cutting edge technology, and took years and millions of dollars to accomplish. How do these companies do it for so many people? Well, for one thing, they don't map all your DNA.
2. THE KITS LOOK FOR GENETIC VARIATIONS CALLED SINGLE NUCLEOTIDE POLYMORPHISMS.
After extracting DNA from your cheek swab or saliva sample, DNA testing companies search your DNA for certain genetic variants. The building blocks of DNA are chemical bases called nucleotides, which come in four varieties—A, T, C, and G (adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine, respectively). We have 3 billion pairs of these bases, so 6 billion letters in all, strung together in a sequence. Altogether, this genetic information is called your genome.
DNA testing companies determine which of the four letters is present at many locations in your genome. Much of the sequence is shared among humans, so the companies focus on specific letters that vary from person to person, known as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Many SNPs have some biological relevance. For example, having one variant of a specific SNP near the gene OCA2, which codes for a protein believed to be involved in producing the dark pigment melanin, makes it much more likely you’ll have blue or green eyes. Other traits and even some diseases are also associated with certain SNPs, some more strongly than others.
That's one of the many ways that commercial DNA testing stands on the shoulders of earlier, more expensive research. Read more facts about personal DNA tests at Mental Floss.
(Image credit: Flickr user University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability)
Comments (0)
I reckons
the statue of liberty's reading glasses (upsidedown)
Medieval Gentleman's Cast iron 'junk' protector
(medievel 'junk' not pictured)
(bed sheet ghost pictured)
?o you actually own eyes?? or are you just thrashing blindly at the keyboard with your finger mouths and the sicked up that load of twaddle!!
evil knievel’s goggles!
Ridiculous.....
A head-butt from a horse wearing that is going to hurt something awful.
-adam
The worst kind..
why don't you get married to them if you love them sooo much..
looks very cuddly indeed
It is blatanly a edwardian woman's portable over the shoulder weenie roaster (also suitable for swan)
Oh, and 'calf weaners' are clipped onto a calf's nose so they droop over their mouth. When they go to nurse the spikes (which are *much* shorter) hit the utter causing mom to shoo them away. Having spikes around the eyes, especially of that magnitude, is not going to be that effective at anything other than bodily harm.
(and no, I didnt know that before. All hail the Great Goog!)
-adam
'Vembly gaithers the corker's purkle,
Tween Gallopers fast alight
Bravely kiffles the grumish gurgle
Twixt afterthought's first light'
it is their first attempt to make a mask for hannibal lector. The only issue was he would still try to bite people and end up sending a spike right to their throaght. That is why they decided to change the design to something more suitable
Keeps the weak suitors from contributing to the gene pool.
Smaller versions exist for your wrists.
It can also be used to eat less, but people can throw food in their mouth, so it's less effective.
Every warrior should have at least one, even if it's not made for that purpose originally.
If you have a fourth one laying around, place it over the ashtray. You can't have too many spikes if you want to quit smoking.
Actually there are stories of catholic schools that used the wristmodels to keep young boys (and girls) from scratching themselves under the covers.
I visit this site happily everyday!!
Umm...I guess it a part of sex toy!!