Editor's Summary
23 November 2006
Genomics: vive les différences
Where to next after sequencing the human genome? We want to know how human genomes differ from each other. Last year the International HapMap Project published a map of single nucleotide changes, and now an international consortium has mapped even larger areas of differences, called copy number variants (CNVs). Each CNV involves at least 1,000 base-pair differences between individuals, and they have been linked to both benign and disease-causing changes in the genome. The new map is based on analysis of DNA from 270 individuals. Over 1,400 CNVs were found, covering 12% of the genome. This makes them far more prevalent than was thought, and suggests that unless analysed for directly, these differences could be missed by present strategies used to identify genes mutated in genetic diseases.
News and Views: Human genomics: In search of normality
The first map of copy-number variation in the human genome has been created. It is now feasible to examine the role of such genome variation in disease and to explore in depth the extent of 'normal' variability.
Kevin V. Shianna and Huntington F. Willard
doi:10.1038/444428a
Article: Global variation in copy number in the human genome
Richard Redon, Shumpei Ishikawa, Karen R. Fitch, Lars Feuk, George H. Perry, T. Daniel Andrews, Heike Fiegler, Michael H. Shapero, Andrew R. Carson, Wenwei Chen, Eun Kyung Cho, Stephanie Dallaire, Jennifer L. Freeman, Juan R. González, Mònica Gratacòs, Jing Huang, Dimitrios Kalaitzopoulos, Daisuke Komura, Jeffrey R. MacDonald, Christian R. Marshall, Rui Mei, Lyndal Montgomery, Kunihiro Nishimura, Kohji Okamura, Fan Shen, Martin J. Somerville, Joelle Tchinda, Armand Valsesia, Cara Woodwark, Fengtang Yang, Junjun Zhang, Tatiana Zerjal, Jane Zhang, Lluis Armengol, Donald F. Conrad, Xavier Estivill, Chris Tyler-Smith, Nigel P. Carter, Hiroyuki Aburatani, Charles Lee, Keith W. Jones, Stephen W. Scherer and Matthew E. Hurles
doi:10.1038/nature05329
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (1,166K) | Supplementary information
