The scientific journal Nature reports a fascinating discovery: we are all shedding enormous amounts of readable human DNA into the environment.
reports a fascinating discovery: we are all shedding enormous amounts of readable human DNA into the environment.
This was discovered by researcher David Duffy at the University of Florida, who used the latest gene-detection technology to track diseases affecting sea turtles.But in every sample, Duffy was also finding a lot of-turtle DNA. It was, in fact, human DNA. He found so much of it while researching his turtles that he wanted to find out where it was coming from, and started taking samples from streams in populated areas and even sampled the air of occupied buildings.
He calls it the Human Genetic Bycatch, and it turns out it’s easy to detect. There is a device called a nanopore sequencer which costs about $1,000 and plugs into a laptop – that can analyze tiny DNA samples and get enough informationDuffy found risk indicators for diabetes, heart disease, eye disease, and even one sample showing a potentially fatal neurological disease.
There wasn’t enough information to match any of those maladies to a particular individual. But even if you could, does a doctor call up someone out of the blue and say, ‘We sampled your footprint at the beach, and we think you may have a fatal disease?’ Law enforcement, of course, is very interested in this, and I’m sure it will be used only for good and noble purposes, but it is yet another reminder that nothing is private anymore. Because now, we find out that our bodies are continuously dropping microscopic genetic breadcrumbs everywhere we go.Listen to Seattle’s Morning News with Dave Ross and Colleen O’Brien weekday mornings from 5 – 9 a.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM.
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