What are gene polymorphisms?

Genes are made up of long chains of molecules called nucleotides. These nucleotides can come in 4 forms, represented by the letters A, T, C and G. On average humans are 99.5% genetically identical, meaning the vast majority of our genes use the same order of letters.

However, we all have small differences in the information that our DNA contains, where the letter can differ between people, and it’s these differences that make each of us unique. Genetic polymorphisms are slight changes in the genetic code that are present in at least one percent of the population.

These polymorphisms can lead to different processes in the body, just as altering one letter in a word can completely change its meaning. When the change affects only one genetic letter, it is called a “single nucleotide polymorphism” (or SNP, pronounced “snip”). You’ll see which of these SNP’s you possess under the ‘Your Genotype Result’ in each gene table.