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What are DNA variants?
What are DNA variants?
DNA stands for "Deoxyribonucleic Acid" and it is like a set of instructions that tell our bodies how to grow and function. These instructions are written using a code of four “letters”: A, T, C, and G.
A DNA variant is a small change in the instruction manual. We have over 3 billion DNA letters, so everyone has lots of different variants, and most of the time they do not have any impact on our health.
Most often, these variants are just what makes each person unique, like determining hair colour, height.
DNA variants can be:
Common (many people have them)
Rare (only a few people have them)
Inherited from parents
or de novo "new" (a change that appears for the first time in a person and was not passed down from a parent)
Sometimes DNA variants can have an impact on health. They can be in specific genes that we know have an increased chance of leading to a health condition or they may be in a gene that provides instructions to our bodies about how to process medicines.
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