Title:
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Inter-population variability of DEFA3 gene absence: correlation with haplotype structure and population variability
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Author:
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Ballana Guix, Ester; González Ruiz, Juan Ramón; Bosch Pagès, Nina; Estivill, Xavier, 1955-
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Abstract:
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Background: Copy number variants (CNVs) account for a significant proportion of normal phenotypic variation and may have an important role in human pathological variation. The α-defensin cluster on human chromosome 8p23.1 is one of the better-characterized CNVs, in which high copy number variability affecting the DEFA1 and DEFA3 genes has been reported. Moreover, the DEFA3 gene has been found to be absent in a significant proportion of control population subjects. CNVs involving immune genes, such as α-defensins, are possibly contributing to innate immunity differences observed between individuals and influence predisposition and susceptibility to disease. Results: We have tested the DEFA3 absence in 697 samples from different human populations. The proportion of subjects lacking DEFA3 has been found to vary from 10% to 37%, depending on the population tested, suggesting differences in innate immune function between populations. Absence of DEFA3 was correlated with the region's haplotype block structure. African samples showed a higher intra-populational variability together with the highest proportion of subjects without DEFA3 (37%). Association analysis of DEFA3 absence with 136 SNPs from a 100-kb region identified a conserved haplotype in the Caucasian population, extending for the whole region. Conclusion: Complexity and variability are essential genomic features of the α-defensin cluster at the 8p23.1 region. The identification of population differences in subjects lacking the DEFA3 gene may be suggestive of population-specific selective pressures with potential impact on human health. |
Abstract:
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This work was financially supported by Fundació La Marató de TV3 (993610), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, FIS-ISCIII (G03/203, PI052347 and CIBER-CB06/02/0058) and Departament d'Universitats i Societat de la Informació, Generalitat de Catalunya (2005SGR00008). The Spanish National Genotyping Center (CeGen) is founded by Genoma España. EB is recipient of a FI fellowship from Departament d'Universitats i Societat de la Informació, Generalitat de Catalunya (2003FI00066). NB is a recipient of a BEFI fellowship from Instituto de Salud Carlos III FIS-ISCIII. |
Abstract:
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2164-8-14 |
Subject(s):
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-Genomes -Immunitat |
Rights:
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© 2007 Ballana et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. /nThis is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 |
Document type:
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Article Article - Published version |
Published by:
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BioMed Central
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