2012 National DNA Day Online Chatroom Transcript

This is just one question from an archive of the National DNA Day Moderated Chat held in April 2012. The NHGRI Director and many genomics experts from across NHGRI took questions from students, teachers and the general public on topics ranging from basic genomic research, to the genetic basis of disease, to ethical questions about genetic privacy.

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Why do people look different from each other?
     Weiyi Mu: I am a second-year genetic counseling student in the Johns Hopkins University/NHGRI Genetic Counseling Training Program. I became interested in genetics when I was in middle school and have been studying science ever since! As a genetic counseling student, I see patients with all different kinds of genetic or genetics-influenced conditions from Down syndrome to breast cancer. I learn about how genes affect their conditions and also learn to how to help them understand and live with their conditions. What a great question. The answer lies mostly in our genes -- we have over 99% of the same DNA from you to me, but that 1% is what causes us to look different from each other! The 1% of those genes are the instructions for eye color, hair color, head shape and face shape, height and weight, fingernail shape and ear shape. Of course, what we eat and what we do throughout our lives can affect this, too.
Peru High School in IN (9th grade student)

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