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100,000 Californians To Be Gene Sequenced

Posted by Soulskill on from the homing-in-on-the-prius-gene dept.

eldavojohn writes "A hundred thousand elderly Californians (average age 65) will be gene sequenced by the state using samples of their saliva. This will be the first time such a large group has had their genes sequenced, and it is hoped to be a goldmine for genetic maladies — from cardiovascular diseases to diabetes to even the diseases associated with aging. Kaiser Permanente patients will be involved, and they are aiming to have half a million samples ready by 2013. Let's hope that they got permission from the patients' doctors first."

3 of 176 comments (clear)

  1. Not sequencing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    This not (gene or genome) sequencing. Rather, it picks up single nucleotide changes (SNPs). Still valuable information, but no new mutation will be discovered with this method.

    Sequencing would be a couple of orders of magnitude more expensive.

    1. Re:Not sequencing by SUB7IME · · Score: 4, Informative

      Anonymous coward is correct. This is genotyping, which is orders of magnitude less resource-intensive than gene sequencing.

      Genotyping | sequencing || driving down the highway | Lewis and Clark's journey

      Sequencing is pathfinding (they are not doing this). Genotyping is exploring the path that you already know is there (this is what they are doing). On the sequencing front, there is currently a 1000 genomes project - a massive collaboration of worldwide importance due to its difficulty and expense. On the other hand, genotyping 100,000 people is done all the time (heart attack GWAS, etc). The two concepts are enormously different.

  2. Re:Damned sure glad... by SUB7IME · · Score: 5, Informative

    This is why we passed GINA: http://www.genome.gov/24519851