Ancestry Helps Map Disease Genes

Main Category: Genetics
Article Date: 25 Mar 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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Mapping by admixture linkage disequilibrium (MALD) is a powerful approach for identifying regions of the genome that contain genes associated with disease. This method takes advantage of differences in disease prevalence between populations to look for patterns of variation that are over-represented in population groups with increased susceptibility to a particular disorder. In this research study, scientists from Technion - Israel Institute of Technology and Washington University have developed a new technique for MALD, called Expected Mutual Information.

"Our novel approach extends previous methods by incorporating knowledge on population admixture, drawing a more precise picture of the mosaic of ancestries along an individual's genome," explains primary author Sivan Bercovici.

The authors anticipate that this new method may lead to significant advances in the ability of researchers to isolate the genetic determinants of common diseases.

"The convergence of the novel computational technologies provided in this manuscript with analysis and knowledge of the population genetic architecture of special populations of interest, should greatly facilitate design and implementation of genome-wide mapping of susceptibility loci for clinical phenotypes of general importance in human health and disease," explains co-author Dr. Karl Skorecki. "Such an implementation is already underway in a collaboration between computer scientists, population geneticists, and clinicians."

Bercovici, S., Geiger, D., Shlush, L., Skorecki, K., and Templeton, A.
"Panel construction for mapping in admixed populations via expected mutual information."
Genome Res. doi:10.1101/gr.073148.107.
Click here to see abstract online

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Genome Research is an international, monthly, peer-reviewed journal published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. Launched in 1995, it is one of the five most highly cited primary research journals in genetics and genomics.
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