2010 National DNA Day Online Chatroom Transcript
This is just one question from an archive of the National DNA Day Moderated Chat held in April 2010. 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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Is your DNA identical when you're born to when you're very old? Aside from the fact that the phenotype changes from aging... is the genotype identical?
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Claire Noll, M.S., C.G.C.:
I have worked for 10 years in prenatal, cancer, and research (cardiovascular) genetic counseling. That has included a lot of genetics by email, phone, and videoconference, so chatting on DNA Day fits right in. I love working in this field because it can explain a lot that people may have wondered about, such as why people are different in many ways and why they are the same in many ways.
The genotype can change in response to environmental insults, drug exposure, radiation therapy, and other mutagens, but these changes are probably rare from a statistical standpoint. For the most part, it's pretty stable. |
| Shikellamy High School in PA (9th grade student) |
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