SPC: a SPectral Component approach leveraging Identity-by-Descent graphs to address recent population structure in genomic analysis.

ABSTRACT: Population structure is a well-known confounder in statistical genetics, particularly in genome-wide association studies (GWAS), where it can lead to inflated test statistics and spurious associations. Traditional methods, such as principal components (PCs), commonly used to adjust for population structure, are limited in capturing fine-scale, non-linear patterns that arise from recent demographic events - patterns that are crucial for understanding rare variant effects. To address this challenge, we propose a novel method called SPectral Components (SPCs), which leverages identity-by-descent (IBD) graphs to capture and transform local, non-linear fine-scale population structure into continuous representations that can be seamlessly integrated into genetic analysis pipelines. Using both si

SUBMITTER: Shemirani R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12155035 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature