High resolution discovery and confirmation of copy number variants in 90 Yoruba Nigerians.

BACKGROUND: Copy number variants (CNVs) account for a large proportion of genetic variation in the genome. The initial discoveries of long (> 100 kb) CNVs in normal healthy individuals were made on BAC arrays and low resolution oligonucleotide arrays. Subsequent studies that used higher resolution microarrays and SNP genotyping arrays detected the presence of large numbers of CNVs that are < 100 kb, with median lengths of approximately 10 kb. More recently, whole genome sequencing of individuals has revealed an abundance of shorter CNVs with lengths < 1 kb. RESULTS: We used custom high density oligonucleotide arrays in whole-genome scans at approximately 200-bp resolution, and followed up with a localized CNV typing array at resolutions as close as 10 bp, to confirm regions from the initial genome scans, and to detect the occurrence of sample-level events at shorter CNV regions identified in recent whole-genome sequencing studies. We surveyed 90 Yoruba Nigerians from the HapMap Project, and uncovered approximately 2,700 potentially novel CNVs not previously reported in the literature having a median length of approximately 3 kb. We generated sample-level event calls in the 90 Yoruba at nearly 9,000 regions, including approximately 2,500 regions having a median length of just approximately 200 bp that represent the union of CNVs independently discovered through whole-genome sequencing of two individuals of Western European descent. Event frequencies were noticeably higher at shorter regions < 1 kb compared to longer CNVs (> 1 kb). CONCLUSIONS: As new shorter CNVs are discovered through whole-genome sequencing, high resolution microarrays offer a cost-effective means to detect the occurrence of events at these regions in large numbers of individuals in order to gain biological insights beyond the initial discovery.

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.