Investigators at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), in Phoenix, AZ, have found a way to index portions of the 3-billion-base human genetic code using bar-codes - providing a faster and less expensive way for scientists to zero in on the regions most likely to show variations in genetic traits.

Dr. David Craig, associate director of TGen's Neurogenomics Division, said the new method should cost only one-tenth, or less, of the current cost of sequencing genes commonly done to analyze Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs), and in performing Genome-Wide Association (GWA) studies.

The findings were published today in the online version of the journal Nature Methods. The study will be published in print in the journal's October edition.

Read more from the official release.