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A project that analyzed the genomes of rural Ugandans uncovered a raft of genetic variants and other findings with implications for human health, researchers report today (October 31) in Cell. Relatively few genomic studies to date have focused on Africans, and the new results demonstrate the value of doing so, the authors say.
“Uganda is a melting pot of different cultures and languages, and we wanted to understand the genetic structure and history of populations within the country,” says coauthor Pontiano Kaleebu, the director of the Uganda Virus Research Institute and of the MRC/UVRI & London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Uganda Research Unit, in a press release.
Kaleebu and his colleagues genotyped or sequenced the genomes of more than 6,000 people from villages in southwestern Uganda, and compared the results to data from questionnaires, measurements of height and other parameters, and blood biomarker ...
