Ancestry informative marker sets for determining continental origin and admixture proportions in common populations in America.
To provide a resource for assessing continental ancestry in a wide variety of genetic studies, we identified, validated, and characterized a set of 128 ancestry informative markers (AIMs). The markers were chosen for informativeness, genome-wide distribution, and genotype reproducibility on two platforms (TaqMan assays and Illumina arrays). We analyzed genotyping data from 825 subjects with diverse ancestry, including European, East Asian, Amerindian, African, South Asian, Mexican, and Puerto Rican. A comprehensive set of 128 AIMs and subsets as small as 24 AIMs are shown to be useful tools for ascertaining the origin of subjects from particular continents, and to correct for population stratification in admixed population sample sets. Our findings provide general guidelines for the application of specific AIM subsets as a resource for wide application. We conclude that investigators can use TaqMan assays for the selected AIMs as a simple and cost efficient tool to control for differences in continental ancestry when conducting association studies in ethnically diverse populations.
Kosoy
Roman
R
Rowe Program in Human Genetics, Department of Biochemistry, University of California Davis, Davis, California 95616, USA.
Nassir
Rami
R
Tian
Chao
C
White
Phoebe A
PA
Butler
Lesley M
LM
Silva
Gabriel
G
Kittles
Rick
R
Alarcon-Riquelme
Marta E
ME
Gregersen
Peter K
PK
Belmont
John W
JW
De La Vega
Francisco M
FM
Seldin
Michael F
MF
D000569:Americas; D044466:Asian People; D044383:Black People / Q000235:genetics; D005787:Gene Frequency; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D015894:Genome, Human; D005838:Genotype; D005843:Geography; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D017058:Mexican Americans; D011153:Population / Q000235:genetics*; D044465:White People / Q000235:genetics