Common deletion polymorphisms in the human genome

The locations and properties of common deletion variants in the human genome are largely unknown. We describe a systematic method for using dense SNP genotype data to discover deletions and its application to data from the International HapMap Consortium to characterize and catalogue segregating deletion variants across the human genome. We identified 541 deletion variants (94% novel) ranging from 1 kb to 745 kb in size; 278 of these variants were observed in multiple, unrelated individuals, 120 in the homozygous state. The coding exons of ten expressed genes were found to be commonly deleted, including multiple genes with roles in sex steroid metabolism, olfaction and drug response. These common deletion polymorphisms typically represent ancestral mutations that are in linkage disequilibrium with nearby SNPs, meaning that their association to disease can often be evaluated in the course of SNP-based whole-genome association studies.     

A high-resolution HLA and SNP haplotype map for disease association studies in the extended human MHC

The proteins encoded by the classical HLA class I and class II genes in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) are highly polymorphic and are essential in self versus non-self immune recognition. HLA variation is a crucial determinant of transplant rejection and susceptibility to a large number of infectious and autoimmune diseases. Yet identification of causal variants is problematic owing to linkage disequilibrium that extends across multiple HLA and non-HLA genes in the MHC. We therefore set out to characterize the linkage disequilibrium patterns between the highly polymorphic HLA genes and background variation by typing the classical HLA genes and >7,500 common SNPs and deletion-insertion polymorphisms across four population samples. The analysis provides informative tag SNPs that capture much of the common variation in the MHC region and that could be used in disease association studies, and it provides new insight into the evolutionary dynamics and ancestral origins of the HLA loci and their haplotypes.     

Additional SNPs and linkage-disequilibrium analyses are necessary for whole-genome association studies in humans

More than 5 million single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with minor-allele frequency greater than 10% are expected to exist in the human genome. Some of these SNPs may be associated with risk of developing common diseases. To assess the power of currently available SNPs to detect such associations, we resequenced 50 genes in two ethnic samples and measured patterns of linkage disequilibrium between the subset of SNPs reported in dbSNP and the complete set of common SNPs. Our results suggest that using all 2.7 million SNPs currently in the database would detect nearly 80% of all common SNPs in European populations but only 50% of those common in the African American population and that efficient selection of a minimal subset of SNPs for use in association studies requires measurement of allele frequency and linkage disequilibrium relationships for all SNPs in dbSNP.     

Sequence variation in the human angiotensin converting enzyme.

Angiotensin converting enzyme (encoded by the gene DCP1, also known as ACE) catalyses the conversion of angiotensin I to the physiologically active peptide angiotensin II, which controls fluid-electrolyte balance and systemic blood pressure. Because of its key function in the renin-angiotensin system, many association studies have been performed with DCP1. Nearly all studies have associated the presence (insertion, I) or absence (deletion, D) of a 287-bp Alu repeat element in intron 16 with the levels of circulating enzyme or cardiovascular pathophysiologies. Many epidemiological studies suggest that the DCP1*D allele confers increased susceptibility to cardiovascular disease; however, other reports have found no such association or even a beneficial effect. We present here the complete genomic sequence of DCP1 from 11 individuals, representing the longest contiguous scan (24 kb) for sequence variation in human DNA. We identified 78 varying sites in 22 chromosomes that resolved into 13 distinct haplotypes. Of the variant sites, 17 were in absolute linkage disequilibrium with the commonly typed Alu insertion/deletion polymorphism, producing two distinct and distantly related clades. We also identified a major subdivision in the Alu deletion clade that enables further analysis of the traits associated with this gene. The diversity uncovered in DCP1 is comparable to that described for other regions in the human genome. The highly correlated structure in DCP1 raises important issues for the determination of functional DNA variants within genes and genetic studies in humans based on marker association.     

Haplotype tagging for the identification of common disease genes

Genome-wide linkage disequilibrium (LD) mapping of common disease genes could be more powerful than linkage analysis if the appropriate density of polymorphic markers were known and if the genotyping effort and cost of producing such an LD map could be reduced. Although different metrics that measure the extent of LD have been evaluated, even the most recent studies have not placed significant emphasis on the most informative and cost-effective method of LD mapping-that based on haplotypes. We have scanned 135 kb of DNA from nine genes, genotyped 122 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs; approximately 184,000 genotypes) and determined the common haplotypes in a minimum of 384 European individuals for each gene. Here we show how knowledge of the common haplotypes and the SNPs that tag them can be used to (i) explain the often complex patterns of LD between adjacent markers, (ii) reduce genotyping significantly (in this case from 122 to 34 SNPs), (iii) scan the common variation of a gene sensitively and comprehensively and (iv) provide key fine-mapping data within regions of strong LD. Our results also indicate that, at least for the genes studied here, the current version of dbSNP would have been of limited utility for LD mapping because many common haplotypes could not be defined. A directed re-sequencing effort of the approximately 10% of the genome in or near genes in the major ethnic groups would aid the systematic evaluation of the common variant model of common disease.     

A robust statistical method for case-control association testing with copy number variation

Copy number variation (CNV) is pervasive in the human genome and can play a causal role in genetic diseases. The functional impact of CNV cannot be fully captured through linkage disequilibrium with SNPs. These observations motivate the development of statistical methods for performing direct CNV association studies. We show through simulation that current tests for CNV association are prone to false-positive associations in the presence of differential errors between cases and controls, especially if quantitative CNV measurements are noisy. We present a statistical framework for performing case-control CNV association studies that applies likelihood ratio testing of quantitative CNV measurements in cases and controls. We show that our methods are robust to differential errors and noisy data and can achieve maximal theoretical power. We illustrate the power of these methods for testing for association with binary and quantitative traits, and have made this software available as the R package CNVtools.     

Evaluating and improving power in whole-genome association studies using fixed marker sets

Emerging technologies make it possible for the first time to genotype hundreds of thousands of SNPs simultaneously, enabling whole-genome association studies. Using empirical genotype data from the International HapMap Project, we evaluate the extent to which the sets of SNPs contained on three whole-genome genotyping arrays capture common SNPs across the genome, and we find that the majority of common SNPs are well captured by these products either directly or through linkage disequilibrium. We explore analytical strategies that use HapMap data to improve power of association studies conducted with these fixed sets of markers and show that limited inclusion of specific haplotype tests in association analysis can increase the fraction of common variants captured by 25-100%. Finally, we introduce a Bayesian approach to association analysis by weighting the likelihood of each statistical test to reflect the number of putative causal alleles to which it is correlated.     

Transferability of tag SNPs in genetic association studies in multiple populations

A general question for linkage disequilibrium-based association studies is how power to detect an association is compromised when tag SNPs are chosen from data in one population sample and then deployed in another sample. Specifically, it is important to know how well tags picked from the HapMap DNA samples capture the variation in other samples. To address this, we collected dense data uniformly across the four HapMap population samples and eleven other population samples. We picked tag SNPs using genotype data we collected in the HapMap samples and then evaluated the effective coverage of these tags in comparison to the entire set of common variants observed in the other samples. We simulated case-control association studies in the non-HapMap samples under a disease model of modest risk, and we observed little loss in power. These results demonstrate that the HapMap DNA samples can be used to select tags for genome-wide association studies in many samples around the world.     

Genome-wide association study of quantitative resistance to southern leaf blight in the maize nested association mapping population

Nested association mapping (NAM) offers power to resolve complex, quantitative traits to their causal loci. The maize NAM population, consisting of 5,000 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) from 25 families representing the global diversity of maize, was evaluated for resistance to southern leaf blight (SLB) disease. Joint-linkage analysis identified 32 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) with predominantly small, additive effects on SLB resistance. Genome-wide association tests of maize HapMap SNPs were conducted by imputing founder SNP genotypes onto the NAM RILs. SNPs both within and outside of QTL intervals were associated with variation for SLB resistance. Many of these SNPs were within or near sequences homologous to genes previously shown to be involved in plant disease resistance. Limited linkage disequilibrium was observed around some SNPs associated with SLB resistance, indicating that the maize NAM population enables high-resolution mapping of some genome regions.     

Genome-wide mapping with biallelic markers in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Single-nucleotide polymorphisms, as well as small insertions and deletions (here referred to collectively as simple nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs), comprise the largest set of sequence variants in most organisms. Positional cloning based on SNPs may accelerate the identification of human disease traits and a range of biologically informative mutations. The recent application of high-density oligonucleotide arrays to allele identification has made it feasible to genotype thousands of biallelic SNPs in a single experiment. It has yet to be established, however, whether SNP detection using oligonucleotide arrays can be used to accelerate the mapping of traits in diploid genomes. The cruciferous weed Arabidopsis thaliana is an attractive model system for the construction and use of biallelic SNP maps. Although important biological processes ranging from fertilization and cell fate determination to disease resistance have been modelled in A. thaliana, identifying mutations in this organism has been impeded by the lack of a high-density genetic map consisting of easily genotyped DNA markers. We report here the construction of a biallelic genetic map in A. thaliana with a resolution of 3.5 cM and its use in mapping Eds16, a gene involved in the defence response to the fungal pathogen Erysiphe orontii. Mapping of this trait involved the high-throughput generation of meiotic maps of F2 individuals using high-density oligonucleotide probe array-based genotyping. We developed a software package called InterMap and used it to automatically delimit Eds16 to a 7-cM interval on chromosome 1. These results are the first demonstration of biallelic mapping in diploid genomes and establish means for generalizing SNP-based maps to virtually any genetic organism.     

A genome-wide association study for celiac disease identifies risk variants in the region harboring IL2 and IL21

We tested 310,605 SNPs for association in 778 individuals with celiac disease and 1,422 controls. Outside the HLA region, the most significant finding (rs13119723; P = 2.0 x 10(-7)) was in the KIAA1109-TENR-IL2-IL21 linkage disequilibrium block. We independently confirmed association in two further collections (strongest association at rs6822844, 24 kb 5' of IL21; meta-analysis P = 1.3 x 10(-14), odds ratio = 0.63), suggesting that genetic variation in this region predisposes to celiac disease.     

Genomic screening and replication using the same data set in family-based association testing

The Human Genome Project and its spin-offs are making it increasingly feasible to determine the genetic basis of complex traits using genome-wide association studies. The statistical challenge of analyzing such studies stems from the severe multiple-comparison problem resulting from the analysis of thousands of SNPs. Our methodology for genome-wide family-based association studies, using single SNPs or haplotypes, can identify associations that achieve genome-wide significance. In relation to developing guidelines for our screening tools, we determined lower bounds for the estimated power to detect the gene underlying the disease-susceptibility locus, which hold regardless of the linkage disequilibrium structure present in the data. We also assessed the power of our approach in the presence of multiple disease-susceptibility loci. Our screening tools accommodate genomic control and use the concept of haplotype-tagging SNPs. Our methods use the entire sample and do not require separate screening and validation samples to establish genome-wide significance, as population-based designs do.     

A worldwide survey of haplotype variation and linkage disequilibrium in the human genome

Recent genomic surveys have produced high-resolution haplotype information, but only in a small number of human populations. We report haplotype structure across 12 Mb of DNA sequence in 927 individuals representing 52 populations. The geographic distribution of haplotypes reflects human history, with a loss of haplotype diversity as distance increases from Africa. Although the extent of linkage disequilibrium (LD) varies markedly across populations, considerable sharing of haplotype structure exists, and inferred recombination hotspot locations generally match across groups. The four samples in the International HapMap Project contain the majority of common haplotypes found in most populations: averaging across populations, 83% of common 20-kb haplotypes in a population are also common in the most similar HapMap sample. Consequently, although the portability of tag SNPs based on the HapMap is reduced in low-LD Africans, the HapMap will be helpful for the design of genome-wide association mapping studies in nearly all human populations.     

Prospects for whole-genome linkage disequilibrium mapping of common disease genes.

Recently, attention has focused on the use of whole-genome linkage disequilibrium (LD) studies to map common disease genes. Such studies would employ a dense map of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to detect association between a marker and disease. Construction of SNP maps is currently underway. An essential issue yet to be settled is the required marker density of such maps. Here, I use population simulations to estimate the extent of LD surrounding common gene variants in the general human population as well as in isolated populations. Two main conclusions emerge from these investigations. First, a useful level of LD is unlikely to extend beyond an average distance of roughly 3 kb in the general population, which implies that approximately 500,000 SNPs will be required for whole-genome studies. Second, the extent of LD is similar in isolated populations unless the founding bottleneck is very narrow or the frequency of the variant is low (<5%).     

Patterns of single-nucleotide polymorphisms in candidate genes for blood-pressure homeostasis.

Sequence variation in human genes is largely confined to single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and is valuable in tests of association with common diseases and pharmacogenetic traits. We performed a systematic and comprehensive survey of molecular variation to assess the nature, pattern and frequency of SNPs in 75 candidate human genes for blood-pressure homeostasis and hypertension. We assayed 28 Mb (190 kb in 148 alleles) of genomic sequence, comprising the 5' and 3' untranslated regions (UTRs), introns and coding sequence of these genes, for sequence differences in individuals of African and Northern European descent using high-density variant detection arrays (VDAs). We identified 874 candidate human SNPs, of which 22% were confirmed by DNA sequencing to reveal a discordancy rate of 21% for VDA detection. The SNPs detected have an average minor allele frequency of 11%, and 387 are within the coding sequence (cSNPs). Of all cSNPs, 54% lead to a predicted change in the protein sequence, implying a high level of human protein diversity. These protein-altering SNPs are 38% of the total number of such SNPs expected, are more likely to be population-specific and are rarer in the human population, directly demonstrating the effects of natural selection on human genes. Overall, the degree of nucleotide polymorphism across these human genes, and orthologous great ape sequences, is highly variable and is correlated with the effects of functional conservation on gene sequences.     

Integrated detection and population-genetic analysis of SNPs and copy number variation

Dissecting the genetic basis of disease risk requires measuring all forms of genetic variation, including SNPs and copy number variants (CNVs), and is enabled by accurate maps of their locations, frequencies and population-genetic properties. We designed a hybrid genotyping array (Affymetrix SNP 6.0) to simultaneously measure 906,600 SNPs and copy number at 1.8 million genomic locations. By characterizing 270 HapMap samples, we developed a map of human CNV (at 2-kb breakpoint resolution) informed by integer genotypes for 1,320 copy number polymorphisms (CNPs) that segregate at an allele frequency >1%. More than 80% of the sequence in previously reported CNV regions fell outside our estimated CNV boundaries, indicating that large (>100 kb) CNVs affect much less of the genome than initially reported. Approximately 80% of observed copy number differences between pairs of individuals were due to common CNPs with an allele frequency >5%, and more than 99% derived from inheritance rather than new mutation. Most common, diallelic CNPs were in strong linkage disequilibrium with SNPs, and most low-frequency CNVs segregated on specific SNP haplotypes.     

Genome-wide association study identifies a susceptibility locus for thoracic aortic aneurysms and aortic dissections spanning FBN1 at 15q21.1

Although thoracic aortic aneurysms and dissections (TAAD) can be inherited as a single-gene disorder, the genetic predisposition in the majority of affected people is poorly understood. In a multistage genome-wide association study (GWAS), we compared 765 individuals who had sporadic TAAD (STAAD) with 874 controls and identified common SNPs at a 15q21.1 locus that were associated with STAAD, with odds ratios of 1.6-1.8 that achieved genome-wide significance. We followed up 107 SNPs associated with STAAD with P < 1 × 10(-5) in the region, in two separate STAAD cohorts. The associated SNPs fall into a large region of linkage disequilibrium encompassing FBN1, which encodes fibrillin-1. FBN1 mutations cause Marfan syndrome, whose major cardiovascular complication is TAAD. This study shows that common genetic variants at 15q21.1 that probably act via FBN1 are associated with STAAD, suggesting a common pathogenesis of aortic disease in Marfan syndrome and STAAD.     

Resequencing of 31 wild and cultivated soybean genomes identifies patterns of genetic diversity and selection

We report a large-scale analysis of the patterns of genome-wide genetic variation in soybeans. We re-sequenced a total of 17 wild and 14 cultivated soybean genomes to an average of approximately ×5 depth and >90% coverage using the Illumina Genome Analyzer II platform. We compared the patterns of genetic variation between wild and cultivated soybeans and identified higher allelic diversity in wild soybeans. We identified a high level of linkage disequilibrium in the soybean genome, suggesting that marker-assisted breeding of soybean will be less challenging than map-based cloning. We report linkage disequilibrium block location and distribution, and we identified a set of 205,614 tag SNPs that may be useful for QTL mapping and association studies. The data here provide a valuable resource for the analysis of wild soybeans and to facilitate future breeding and quantitative trait analysis.     

Genome partitioning of genetic variation for complex traits using common SNPs

We estimate and partition genetic variation for height, body mass index (BMI), von Willebrand factor and QT interval (QTi) using 586,898 SNPs genotyped on 11,586 unrelated individuals. We estimate that ～45%, ～17%, ～25% and ～21% of the variance in height, BMI, von Willebrand factor and QTi, respectively, can be explained by all autosomal SNPs and a further ～0.5-1% can be explained by X chromosome SNPs. We show that the variance explained by each chromosome is proportional to its length, and that SNPs in or near genes explain more variation than SNPs between genes. We propose a new approach to estimate variation due to cryptic relatedness and population stratification. Our results provide further evidence that a substantial proportion of heritability is captured by common SNPs, that height, BMI and QTi are highly polygenic traits, and that the additive variation explained by a part of the genome is approximately proportional to the total length of DNA contained within genes therein.     

Evaluating potential for whole-genome studies in Kosrae, an isolated population in Micronesia

Whole-genome association studies are predicted to be especially powerful in isolated populations owing to increased linkage disequilibrium (LD) and decreased allelic diversity, but this possibility has not been empirically tested. We compared genome-wide data on 113,240 SNPs typed on 30 trios from the Pacific island of Kosrae to the same markers typed in the 270 samples from the International HapMap Project. The extent of LD is longer and haplotype diversity is lower in Kosrae than in the HapMap populations. More than 98% of Kosraen haplotypes are present in HapMap populations, indicating that HapMap will be useful for genetic studies on Kosrae. The long-range LD around common alleles and limited diversity result in improved efficiency in genetic studies in this population and augments the power to detect association of 'hidden SNPs'.