GWAS SNPs: decoders of disease-associated traits

The quest for identifying the genetic basis of common illnesses is deep rooted in the search for disease prevention and treatment. The advancement of genome-wide sequencing technology has linked thousands of genetic regions with hundreds of diseases and trait. This method searches the genome for small variations, called single nucleotide polymorphisms or single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that occur more frequently in people with a particular disease than in people without the disease.