Common and rare variants in multifactorial susceptibility to common disease
June 10, 2009
In a perspective article published in Nature Genetics, Sir Walter Bodmer and Carolina Bonilla argue that rare variants make a large contribution to the multifactorial inheritance of common diseases. They also point to two areas where studies of rare and common variants can intersect. First, they suggest that common variants might act as modifiers of rare variants, and second that genes for which common variants are identified should be considered candidates for functionally relevant rare variants. They conclude that the availability of highly efficient re-sequencing technology is critical in order to meet the challenge of identifying rare variants in disease versus control populations.
Read more at PubMed Central.