It's the largest number of variations ever identified, and it arms researchers with new information in the battle against hereditary disease. But scientists caution that cures are a long way off. Those changes are caused by alterations in DNA sequences, Lifton said. CuraGen identified a large number of common inherited variants that are not scattered randomly throughout chromosomes, but instead are in expressed genes themselves, said Lifton, who is also an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute . They give researchers a detailed road map to pinpoint the causes of disease.
Most genetic researchers agree.
But genetic experts stress that significant work remains to be done before the discovery has any influence in the real world. Humans are good at technology, but biology is a much sloppier system than technology. Humans weren t designed by engineers, they were designed by natural selection. The findings could potentially lead, in the long run, to diseased genes or susceptibilities that react with other things like diet. In other words, some individuals may have a genetic predisposition to diabetes, for example, but their lifestyle will decide whether or not they actually contract the disease.