Effects of cis and trans genetic ancestry on gene expression in African Americans.

ABSTRACT: Variation in gene expression is a fundamental aspect of human phenotypic variation. Several recent studies have analyzed gene expression levels in populations of different continental ancestry and reported population differences at a large number of genes. However, these differences could largely be due to non-genetic (e.g., environmental) effects. Here, we analyze gene expression levels in African American cell lines, which differ from previously analyzed cell lines in that individuals from this population inherit variable proportions of two continental ancestries. We first relate gene expression levels in individual African Americans to their genome-wide proportion of European ancestry. The results provide strong evidence of a genetic contribution to expression differences between Europe

SUBMITTER: Price AL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2586034 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature