Scientists Discover Human DNA Is Distributed All Over the World

In a study published in the scientific journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, scientists In the water, the air or the sand, there is human DNA scattered all over the world.. Unfortunately, researchers believe that the technology used to discover DNA could also have negative consequences for humanity.

A team of scientists from the University of Florida in the United States was looking for environmental DNA, a genetic material with animal characteristics dispersed in parts of the US state.

The goal was to study endangered sea turtles, but eventually they collected DNA from humans and realized that this organic compound could be found in the air of a dense room, in ocean water, or in footprints left in sand.

As the study explains, the genetic samples found HEProvides high-quality information, including it was possible to associate genetic mutations with certain diseases and even genetic ancestors of DNA..

That’s why the researchers believe the technology can also be scary, as this data gets dispersed and offers free personal information to malicious individuals. Like this, In theory, the possibilities are possible to violate people’s privacy, discover their location, use data to perform genetic surveillance, and other major ethical issues.

“When we make a technological breakthrough, there are good things technology can be used for and bad things technology can be used for. These are issues that we try to raise early so that policymakers and the community have time to develop regulations. [na área]University of Florida zoologist and lead author of the study, David Duffy, said.

Human DNA around the world

Scientists have used a common technique to monitor and protect endangered animals, collecting samples from air, soil, sediment, water, permafrost, snow and ice cores. In this way, they understood human DNA spread into the environment through saliva, skin, sweat, blood and skin.

Despite the scenario where ethics is not taken into account, the study’s authors believe the technology can help search for missing persons, solve crimes, monitor the health of people in an area, among other benefits.

To prove the knowledge, the scientists analyzed DNA collected from the footprints of the study participants so they could sequence some of the samples’ genomes. From this data, they determined that the participants had genetics from the European and Latino populations and had associations with diseases such as autism and diabetes.

“These sequences have recovered both the nuclear and mitochondrial regions of the human genome, which means we can easily determine whether a man or a woman is walking in the sun or is in a room, depending on whether we sequenced the sequences,” complete Duffy.