What are whole genome sequences?

A whole genome sequence is like reading all the instructions inside a person’s body, every single one, from start to finish.

Imagine your body has a special book that tells it how to grow, how to think, and even how to laugh. This book is made up of millions of tiny letters, called DNA, which are written in a special code. A whole genome sequence means we read every single letter in this giant book for one person.

Think of your body as a big kitchen. Each recipe in the cookbook tells the kitchen how to make a certain dish, like pizza or cake. In your body, each recipe is part of the genome. A whole genome sequence would be like copying down every single recipe from the whole cookbook.

Sometimes scientists want to know what makes someone different, why one person has curly hair and another has straight hair, or why one person loves ice cream and another thinks it's too sweet. By reading all the letters in the book, they can figure out these differences and maybe even predict how a person might grow up or get sick.

That’s the fun of whole genome sequences, they let us explore what makes every person unique!