Current Polygenic scores are based on tens of thousands of these genetic variants,
but we know that hundreds of thousands of currently unmeasured genes are responsible.
Using a new type of analysis called a"genome-wide Polygenic score", or GPS,
they analysed DNA samples from 3,497 people in the ongoing Twins Early Development Study.
Many human traits like height, weight,
and personality of a person are Polygenic, and sometimes the environment also plays a significant
role in either expressing the genes or suppressing the genes.
But when all these variants are
summed together(giving what's known as a characteristic's Polygenic score) they begin to explain more and more of the differences
we see in the people around us.
For example, we could sequence the DNA of a newborn child,
calculate their Polygenic score for academic achievement and use it to predict,
with some degree of accuracy, how well they will do in school.
This may be sporadic(due to dietary factors), Polygenic, or truly familial as a result of a mutation either
in the LDL receptor gene on chromosome 19(0.2% of the population) or the ApoB gene 0.2.