A team of scientists from Singapore has developed the world’s largest genetic database of Asians. Their research results were published within the journal Cell.
Genetic variation is thought to influence a person’s susceptibility to disease and response to treatment. Populations from different parts of the world exhibit significant genetic diversity, which is a consequence of their population history. Asian populations should not studied intimately and their genetic structure is poorly understood, hampering efforts to find disease-related genes that influence the health of people in these populations. Singapore, with its ethnically diverse population of three major ethnic groups (Chinese, Malay and Indian), encompasses 80 percent of Asia’s diversity. Hence,
Singaporean researchers carried out whole-genome sequencing of nearly 5,000 Singaporeans (2,780 Chinese, 903 Malays and 1,127 Indians) over two years to determine a genetic reference for the local population for further study.
The study revealed a noticeable degree of gene transfer between three ethnic groups, of which the Chinese and Malays are more closely related. This suggests that the Malays separated from the Chinese around 24,800 years ago. The Malays then experienced significant gene flow with East Asians around 1,700 years ago, coinciding with the Austronesian expansion, a hypothetical historical migration of peoples from Taiwan/East Asia to Southeast Asia and on to the distant islands of the Pacific and Oceania.
Additionally, the team identified 98.3 million genetic variants in Singapore’s genomes. Of these, greater than half had not been previously reported in public databases, which until now have focused on Western and European populations. They also identified 20 candidate loci for natural selection wherein genome sequences have modified consequently of survival and adaptation to local environments during human evolution.
14 loci were found to be related to human traits and diseases. This may explain why certain human diseases and traits, comparable to ALDH2 deficiency, which is related to erythema asiatica, are roughly common in Asians. These results show the importance and utility of conducting genetic testing in diverse Asian populations.
“The project provides a pilot genetic map of Asian populations that enables us to exactly measure the genetic contribution to disease and mix it with other data sources as a part of a data-driven health system,” said Professor Patrick Tan, executive director of the Genome Institute of Singapore, which is principal creator of the study.
“This will potentially provide the knowledge to prevent diseases before they occur, diagnose diseases earlier and ensure that therapies are implemented in a way that maximizes clinical benefits while minimizing side effects. This will benefit both Singapore and the Asian population as a whole by providing more effective and efficient healthcare services,” he added.
The article will be found at: Wu et al. (2019) Large-scale whole-genome sequencing of three diverse Asian populations in Singapore. Read more in Asian Scientist Magazine at: https://www.asianscientist.com/2019/10/in-the-lab/asian-gene-data-bank-singapore/
