The price of Exome Sequencing continues to drop and is under $1000 now. I am getting mine done for $350 after hopping on an extraordinary deal due to prior involvement with an organization. I'll be picking it apart myself, but will have access to a genetic counselor as need be.

On balance I would go along with DNA banking. By choice I have no children so this is theoretical for me.

One thing to bear in mind is that it is very complicated. With the exception of (relatively very rare) single-gene diseases, genetic variants are just risk factors.

For example allele 23 of gene A may code for a form of a protein which is a risk factor for disease X. That risk can be made worse for somebody who has inherited allele 76 of gene B but better if they have inherited allele 41 of gene C, and so on. The different combinations grow very rapidly.

The other very important idea to remember is that genetic risk factors (different forms of a protein encoded by different alleles of a gene) can generally always be modified (for better or worse) by environmental effects - changes in diet, other life-style changes, sometimes but not always different medications, etc.

We have a lot to learn about this but at the moment genetic determinism (OMG, it is in my genes - I am doomed.) is, in my opinion, not a helpful concept.

I actually don't look at it that way at all. As I've studied some of my variants, one of the things that's often present in research are things that can be done to mitigate the bad genetics. Just the possibility that this could be true has forced my hand to a healthier lifestyle. Case in point, I have two copies of the nasty 9p21 variant.

The chromosome 9p21 variant interacts with vegetable and wine intake to influence the risk of cardiovascular disease: a population based cohort study

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I am reminded of a study I read a while back about Charcot Marie Tooth. (a form of hereditary neuropathy)

The study was about fluoroquinolones triggering a CMT postive patient who was in late middle age, and had no symptoms of CMT until taking Levaquin for an infection. This activated the CMT and he now has active neuropathy. So just having the genes, didn't result in an active disease process until the drug came along.

Janieg, I am glad that you have found out that you have two copies of the rs4977574 G allele.

The paper that you cited is a nice example of how dietary changes can mitigate the effects of a genetic risk factor.

I think one of the ideas behind DNA banking, which is really blood sample banking, is that at some FUTURE date there 'may be' very much more sophisticated tests for genetic markers AND sophisticated treatments for undesirable genetic conditions.

I always think how amazed a 'visitor' from 1800 would be to witness hip replacements, open heart surgery, or just to understand the power of antibiotics.

Hugs, ElaineD