Question

What are ‘SNPs’? Where are they located in the human cell? State any two ways the discovery of SNPs can be of importance to humans?

Answer 1

Hint: These are the most common types of genetic variation which occur among people. Each of them represents a difference in single DNA building blocks which are called nucleotides. Many scientists have found more than 100 million SNPs in populations around the world.

Complete answer:
Single nucleotide polymorphisms are also known as SNPs and pronounced as snips. These are the most common types of genetic variation which occur among people. Each of them represents a difference in single DNA building blocks which are called nucleotides.
 For example, a SNP may replace the nucleotide cytosine represented with symbol C, with the nucleotide thymine (T0 in a certain stretch of DNA. These SNPs occur normally throughout a person’s DNA. Their occurrence is almost once in every 1ooo nucleotides on average, which means there are roughly 4 to 5 million SNPs in a person’s genome.
They are used for:
These are genetic markers for linkage and association mapping for population structure and evolution analysis. The variations which are found are between the genes of DNA. They act as biological markers and help the scientist in locating the genes that are associated with disease.
When SNPS occur within a gene or in a regular region near a gene, they play a more direct role in affecting and causing the disease by affecting gene function.
They have proven very important in the study of human health.

Note: They have a huge role in human genome research. Researchers have found SNPs that may help predict an individual's response to certain drugs. Most of SNPS have no effect on health or development .