Exploring the function of genetic variants in the non-coding genomic regions: Approaches for identifying human regulatory variants affecting gene expression

Mulin Jun Li, Bin Yan, Pak Chung Sham, Junwen Wang*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

58 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Understanding the genetic basis of human traits/diseases and the underlying mechanisms of how these traits/diseases are affected by genetic variations is critical for public health.Current genome-wide functional genomics data uncovered a large number of functional elements in the noncoding regions of human genome, providing new opportunities to study regulatory variants (RVs). RVs play important roles in transcription factor bindings, chromatin states and epigenetic modifications.Here, we systematically review an array of methods currently used to map RVs as well as the computational approaches in annotating and interpreting their regulatory effects, with emphasis on regulatory singlenucleotide polymorphism.We also briefly introduce experimental methods to validate these functional RVs.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)393-412
Number of pages20
JournalBriefings in Bioinformatics
Volume16
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2 Aug 2014

Scopus Subject Areas

  • Information Systems
  • Molecular Biology

User-Defined Keywords

  • Chromatin state
  • Function validation
  • Functional prediction
  • Genetic mapping
  • Regulatory variant
  • Transcriptional gene regulation

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Exploring the function of genetic variants in the non-coding genomic regions: Approaches for identifying human regulatory variants affecting gene expression'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this