A while ago I wrote about how new findings in genetics could herald a new kind of "eugenics", based not around selective breeding to ensure that "bad" genes aren't passed on, but rather based on using fetal genetic testing to choose which variants enter the gene pool in the first place.
I said-
In the near future, we might be able to routinely sequence the genome of any unborn child shortly after conception
But I didn't realize that this may be really very near indeed. Two recent reportshave shown that it's possible to sequence fetal DNA from a maternal blood sample. In one case it was used to diagnose a 35 week fetus with a genetic deletion on chromosome 12 seemingly associated with autism, developmental delay and shortness.
In this case it was inherited from the father (which is why they decided to test for it), but this approach could ...
