DNA REVEALS DISEASE

Analysis of the DNA of 17,000 volunteers found genetic variations between people suffering from depression, Crohn’s disease, coronary heart disease, hypertension, rheumatoid arthritis and certain types of diabetes.The team of 200 scientists from the Wellcome Trust used ‘gene chips’ (tagged sequences of DNA) to identify the genetic differences across the entire genome. Many of the genes identified were found in parts of the genome not previously associated with disease. Future screening may be able to test for combinations of genes to discover the potential risk of disease.