Genome-wide identification of susceptibility alleles for viral infections through a population genetics approach.

ABSTRACT: Viruses have exerted a constant and potent selective pressure on human genes throughout evolution. We utilized the marks left by selection on allele frequency to identify viral infection-associated allelic variants. Virus diversity (the number of different viruses in a geographic region) was used to measure virus-driven selective pressure. Results showed an excess of variants correlated with virus diversity in genes involved in immune response and in the biosynthesis of glycan structures functioning as viral receptors; a significantly higher than expected number of variants was also seen in genes encoding proteins that directly interact with viral components. Genome-wide analyses identified 441 variants significantly associated with virus-diversity; these are more frequently located within

SUBMITTER: Fumagalli M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2824813 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature