Exp Mol Med.  2017 Jul;49(7):e356. 10.1038/emm.2017.142.

Findings of a 1303 Korean whole-exome sequencing study

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea. kspark@snu.ac.kr
  • 2Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. jongil@snu.ac.kr
  • 3Department of Biomedical Sciences, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
  • 4Biomedical Research Institute, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
  • 5Department of Pediatrics, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
  • 6Green Cross Genome, Yongin, Korea.
  • 7Korean Hemophilia Foundation, Seoul, Korea.
  • 8Cancer Research Institute, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
  • 9Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
  • 10Department of Molecular Medicine and Biopharmaceutical Sciences, Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.

Abstract

Ethnically specific data on genetic variation are crucial for understanding human biology and for clinical interpretation of variant pathogenicity. We analyzed data obtained by deep sequencing 1303 Korean whole exomes; the data were generated by three independent whole exome sequencing projects (named the KOEX study). The primary focus of this study was to comprehensively analyze the variant statistics, investigate secondary findings that may have clinical actionability, and identify loci that should be cautiously interpreted for pathogenicity. A total of 495"‰729 unique variants were identified at exonic regions, including 169"‰380 nonsynonymous variants and 4356 frameshift insertion/deletions. Among these, 76"‰607 were novel coding variants. On average, each individual had 7136 nonsynonymous single-nucleotide variants and 74 frameshift insertion/deletions. We classified 13 pathogenic and 13 likely pathogenic variants in 56 genes that may have clinical actionability according to the guidelines of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics, and the Association for Molecular Pathology. The carrier frequency of these 26 variants was 2.46% (95% confidence interval 1.73-3.46). To identify loci that require cautious interpretation in clinical sequencing, we identified 18 genes that are prone to sequencing errors, and 671 genes that are highly polymorphic and carry excess nonsynonymous variants. The catalog of identified variants, its annotation and frequency information are publicly available (https://koex.snu.ac.kr). These findings should be useful resources for investigating ethnically specific characteristics in human health and disease.


MeSH Terms

Biology
Clinical Coding
Exome
Exons
Genetic Variation
Genetics, Medical
Genomics
High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing
Humans
Pathology, Molecular
Virulence
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