{"id":150302315987,"date":"2023-09-26T13:18:13","date_gmt":"2023-09-26T17:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bioptimizers.com\/blog\/?p=150302315987"},"modified":"2023-09-26T13:18:14","modified_gmt":"2023-09-26T17:18:14","slug":"scientific-background-and-glossary-on-genetics-and-nutrigenomics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bioptimizers.com\/blog\/scientific-background-and-glossary-on-genetics-and-nutrigenomics\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientific Background and Glossary On Genetics and Nutrigenomics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Human
Human genome and gene readouts1<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Your genome is made of 46 pieces of DNA, each packaged into a chromosome. Each chromosome is like a long scroll of recipes encoded with 4 letters or base pairs, A, C, G, and T. Each part of this recipe is a gene. The sequence of these letters are called your genetic sequence. In total, combining all 46 chromosomes, your genome is about 3 billion letters long and encodes about 20,000 recipes or genes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 46 chromosomes come in pairs. 23 of them come from your father, the other 23 from your mother. One of the pairs is called sex chromosomes, which is XX if you\u2019re biologically female and XY if you\u2019re biologically male. This is why genetic variants come in two letters –you get one copy of each gene (and thus variants) from each of your parents. One exception to this is if you\u2019re biologically male and the gene is on the X or Y chromosome, then you should only have one copy and one variant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Genetic variation <\/strong>(also called variants, polymorphisms, or mutations) – The 0.1% genetic differences between two people who are not identical twins are genetic variations. These include the 3 million letters of differences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are mutations and are they bad?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMutations” usually have a bad connotation.  There are good mutations, meaning they are beneficial for your health and there are bad mutations, meaning they could be negatively impacting your health.  Our strategy is: become aware of the bad mutations and create a game plan to overcome the potential downside. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of these 3 million differences have very little to no effect on your health whatsoever. Whereas, a small subset of these either provide some benefit or harmful effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, here are some terminologies you may find in nutrigenomic reports and discussions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Genotype<\/strong> refers to an individual\u2019s genetic constitution. Sometimes, the term genotype refers to specific combinations of genetic variants within an individual. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phenotypes<\/strong> are traits that result from the combined effects of your genetic, epigenetic, microbiome, and diet, lifestyle and environment. Phenotypes may be visible to the eyes or detectable with technologies, such as a blood test or an HRV response. This is what you have great control over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An allele<\/strong> is a version of a gene, which may have one or more variations. Some genes can have multiple variations within them, and any specific combination of variations is called an allele. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"heredity\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If you are homozygous<\/strong> for a gene, that means you have two copies of the same allele. Whereas, if you are heterozygous<\/strong>, that means you have two different alleles of the same gene. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Types of Genetic Variations: SNPs, CNVs, Indels, and more<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Your genes are like recipes embedded in the DNA strings of 4 different nucleotide bases: A, G, C, and T. The genetic sequence determines the gene products, such as enzymes and other proteins. Changes in the genetic sequence called \u201cgenetic variations\u201d can affect the output of these gene recipes. Here are some of the most common types of genetic variations : <\/p>\n\n\n\n