Human genetic variation - breakthrough of the year

We differ from each other in the number and order of our genes, and in their composition. A few edited clips from E. Pennisi's summary of Science Magazine's breakthrough of the year in the Dec. 21 issue:

There are an estimated 15 million places along our genomes where one base can differ from one person or population to the next. By mid-2007, more than 3 million such locations, known as single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), had been charted. Called the HapMap, this catalog has made the use of SNPs to track down genes involved in complex diseases--so-called genome-wide association studies--a reality....New gene associations now exist for type I and II diabetes, heart disease, breast cancer, restless leg syndrome, atrial fibrillation, glaucoma, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, colorectal cancer, ankylosing spondylitis, and autoimmune diseases. One study even identified two genes in which particular variants can slow the onset of AIDS, demonstrating the potential of this approach for understanding why people vary in their susceptibility to infectious diseases.

Genomes can differ in many other ways. Bits of DNA ranging from a few to many thousands, even millions, of bases can get lost, added, or turned around in an individual's genome. Such revisions can change the number of copies of a gene or piece of regulatory DNA or jam two genes together, changing the genes'products or shutting them down. This year marked a tipping point, as researchers became aware that these changes, which can alter a genome in just a few generations, affect more bases than SNPs....In one study, geneticists discovered 3600 so-called copy number variants among 95 individuals studied. Quite a few overlapped genes, including some implicated in our individuality--blood type, smell, hearing, taste, and metabolism, for example. Individual genomes differed in size by as many as 9 million bases.