How to fashion you from your DNA
Let’s play Sherlock Holmes and start with his quote:
“Why, the height of a man, in nine cases out of ten, can be told from the length of his stride. It is a simple calculation enough, though there is no use my boring you with figures “
It is 2017 and now we have numerous genomic technologies. In this article, I’ll list what can be determined if all you have is only a person’s genome as a text file. I mentioned this in a previous article. I want to highlight how modern bioinformatics can interpret this information. I hope that the cases of abuse I describe here will not be perceived as a demand for action.
Where you can get your genome? You can obtain this after reading your DNA. This is contained in almost every human cell and is perfectly preserved even after cell death. Modern technology can get information on the complete genome by having only one input cell. To understand this scale, take a look at the human body. We each have about 30 trillion cells, and every minute we lose 30,000 skin cells. To someone who has access to your body or to places where you spend time, it would not be difficult to get your DNA sample.
Now–for the most interesting part: What can you get from these valuable cells and reading their full genome? Imagine that we have received the sequencing data and can analyse these cells.
First, we’ll find out the sex. It’s easy to determine this by the composition of the chromosomes. Already we can expect to see interesting information that a person may not know about: chromosomal composition anomalies, for example, XYY or XXY (in most people, they are XX or XY).
In September 2017, the pioneer of genomic technology, Craig Venter, used a small sample of 1061 people and with computer modelling, demonstrated the ability to predict the following signs, based on information from the genome:
- Face and Voice
- Height, Weight and BMI
- Eye Color and Skin Color
Using only information about the genome, we cannot accurately view everything about individuals, however, it can accurately narrow down the circle of likely owners of the genome. Here, it is worth remembering that for training Venter used only 1000 people and by increasing the sample size, it would increase the accuracy of predictions.
In the genome there are many known points responsible for the probability of various traits: baldness, freckles, a tendency to various skin diseases and other signs that will manifest in appearance. There is a catalog of such interesting locations in the genome. Here, the points are listed of the genome responsible for various manifestations. Having a complete genome can allow a more detailed look into these areas to learn additional interesting information.
From the point of view of abuse, a predisposition to dependencies on various substances, drug intolerance and a predisposition to dangerous diseases are also interesting to note.
Finally, the genome records all the information about your donor compatibility with different people. If someone has the opportunity to find out that your organs will suit him perfectly that will make you a potential target.
All the above is food for thought. By a lucky coincidence, performing widespread sequencing of genomes is still quite expensive, but if you already have your genome in digital form, you can store it securely and share only those parts in which there is no dangerous information using our platform.
