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Recommendations for genetic variation data capture in developing countries to ensure a comprehensive worldwide data collection
Author(s) -
Patrinos George P.,
Al Aama Jumana,
Al Aqeel Aida,
AlMulla Fahd,
Borg Joseph,
Devereux Andrew,
Felice Alex E.,
Macrae Finlay,
Marafie Makia J.,
Petersen Michael B.,
Qi Ming,
Ramesar Rajkumar S.,
Zlotogora Joel,
Cotton Richard G.H.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
human mutation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.981
H-Index - 162
eISSN - 1098-1004
pISSN - 1059-7794
DOI - 10.1002/humu.21397
Subject(s) - documentation , biology , indigenous , data collection , developing country , extant taxon , human genetic variation , resource (disambiguation) , genetic variation , variation (astronomy) , data science , consanguinity , genomics , evolutionary biology , genome , human genome , genetics , computer science , ecology , gene , programming language , statistics , mathematics , computer network , physics , astrophysics
Developing countries have significantly contributed to the elucidation of the genetic basis of both common and rare disorders, providing an invaluable resource of cases due to large family sizes, consanguinity, and potential founder effects. Moreover, the recognized depth of genomic variation in indigenous African populations, reflecting the ancient origins of humanity on the African continent, and the effect of selection pressures on the genome, will be valuable in understanding the range of both pathological and nonpathological variations. The involvement of these populations in accurately documenting the extant genetic heterogeneity is more than essential. Developing nations are regarded as key contributors to the Human Variome Project (HVP; http://www.humanvariomeproject.org), a major effort to systematically collect mutations that contribute to or cause human disease and create a cyber infrastructure to tie databases together. However, biomedical research has not been the primary focus in these countries even though such activities are likely to produce economic and health benefits for all. Here, we propose several recommendations and guidelines to facilitate participation of developing countries in genetic variation data documentation, ensuring an accurate and comprehensive worldwide data collection. We also summarize a few well-coordinated genetic data collection initiatives that would serve as paradigms for similar projects.