The continuum of causality in human genetic disorders

Elias Nicholas Katsanis*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

101 Scopus citations

Abstract

Studies of human genetic disorders have traditionally followed a reductionist paradigm. Traits are defined as Mendelian or complex based on family pedigree and population data, whereas alleles are deemed rare, common, benign, or deleterious based on their population frequencies. The availability of exome and genome data, as well as gene and allele discovery for various conditions, is beginning to challenge classic definitions of genetic causality. Here, I discuss recent advances in our understanding of the overlap between rare and complex diseases and the context-dependent effect of both rare and common alleles that underscores the need for revising the traditional categorizations of genetic traits.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number233
JournalGenome biology
Volume17
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 17 2016

Funding

I thank Erica Davis and Patrick Sullivan for their critical evaluation and assistance in compiling this work and the investigators of the Center for Human Disease Modeling (Duke University Medical Center, NC, USA) for their thoughtful input. This work was supported by grants from the US National Institutes of Health (P50 DK096415, P50 MH094268, and P50 HD028138).

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Genetics
  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
  • Cell Biology

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