One of the major challenges in modern molecular biology is to understand how
phenotypic differences between species or individual representatives of the same species
are encoded in their genomes. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are known to
be the major contributors to the genetic variations. They comprise more than 80% of all
known polymorphisms and are assumed to be primarily responsible for phenotypic
differences between individuals of the same species. SNPs were also suggested to affect
the likelihood of the development and progression of many diseases in humans as well
as to determine the response of different individuals to drug treatment and/or environmental
stress. In addition, SNPs can serve as valuable biological markers. Thus,
genetic tests and methods allowing for rapid and accurate determination of a defined
SNP, or a set of SNPs and/or of a complete individual’s SNP profile, as well as methods
allowing for complete and rapid sequencing of one’s individual genome are considered
of immense importance in personalized medicine and drug treatment. With reduction
of the cost of genotyping, personal SNP profiles might be extremely helpful (in a not so
distant future) in determining one’s best living and working conditions. However,
much work has yet to be done in this direction before we will have a complete understanding
of how exactly each and every particular SNP might (or might not) affect the
health of an individual and/or her/his reaction to a drug