A knowledge-based approach to predict intragenic deletions or duplications

Despite recent improvements in high-throughput or classic molecular biology approaches it is still challenging to identify intermediate resolution genomic variations (50 bp to 50 kb). Although array-based technologies can be used to detect copy number variations in the human genome they are biased to detect only the largest such deletions or duplications. Several studies have identified deletions or duplications occurring within a gene that directly cause or predispose to disease. We have developed a novel computational system, SPeeDD (system to prioritize deletions or duplications) that utilizes machine learning techniques to predict likely candidate regions that delete or duplicate exon(s) within a gene.