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Current Diabetes Reports
Published in: Current Diabetes Reports 7/2016

01-07-2016 | Genetics (AP Morris, Section Editor)

Genetics of Type 2 Diabetes: the Power of Isolated Populations

Authors: Mette Korre Andersen, Casper-Emil Tingskov Pedersen, Ida Moltke, Torben Hansen, Anders Albrechtsen, Niels Grarup

Published in: Current Diabetes Reports | Issue 7/2016

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Abstract

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) affects millions of people worldwide. Improving the understanding of the underlying mechanisms and ultimately improving the treatment strategies are, thus, of great interest. To achieve this, identification of genetic variation predisposing to T2D is important. A large number of variants have been identified in large outbred populations, mainly from Europe and Asia. However, to elucidate additional variation, isolated populations have a number of advantageous properties, including increased amounts of linkage disequilibrium, and increased probability for presence of high frequency disease-associated variants due to genetic drift. Collectively, this increases the statistical power to detect association signals in isolated populations compared to large outbred populations. In this review, we elaborate on why isolated populations are a powerful resource for the identification of complex disease variants and describe their contributions to the understanding of the genetics of T2D.
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Metadata
Title
Genetics of Type 2 Diabetes: the Power of Isolated Populations
Authors
Mette Korre Andersen
Casper-Emil Tingskov Pedersen
Ida Moltke
Torben Hansen
Anders Albrechtsen
Niels Grarup
Publication date
01-07-2016
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Current Diabetes Reports / Issue 7/2016
Print ISSN: 1534-4827
Electronic ISSN: 1539-0829
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11892-016-0757-z

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