2011 National DNA Day Online Chatroom Transcript

This is just one question from an archive of the National DNA Day Moderated Chat held in April 2011. 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 different analysis methods like sequencing or arrays show different variation?
     Toni Pollin, M.S., Ph.D.: I do research on the genetics of complex traits, particularly type 2 diabetes and lipid variation. I also co-direct a Ph.D. and master's training program in human genetics. If the methods are used to answer the same question (say using sequencing or a sequencing array to find out the sequence of a particular individual's cystic fibrosis gene), then they should show the same variation unless one of them is in error. However, sometimes were are not interested in knowing an entire sequence, just whether a person has particular variant(s); then we might use a genotyping method or an array that looks for several variants but not a whole sequence.
Vilnius University (Higher Education teacher)

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