haplotype block
{{short description|Genomic region containing only a few distinct haplotypes}}
In genetics, a haplotype block is a region of an organism's genome in which there is little evidence of a history of genetic recombination, and which contain only a small number of distinct haplotypes.{{Cite journal |last1=Gabriel |first1=S. B. |author-link=Stacey Gabriel|last2=Daly |first2=Mark J. |author-link2=Mark Daly (scientist) |last3=Lander |first3=Eric S. |author-link3=Eric Lander |last4=Ward |first4=Ryk |last5=Cooper |first5=Richard |last6=Adeyemo |first6=Adebowale |last7=Rotimi |first7=Charles |last8=Liu-Cordero |first8=Shau Neen |last9=Faggart |first9=Maura |date=2002-06-21 |title=The Structure of Haplotype Blocks in the Human Genome |journal=Science |language=en |volume=296 |issue=5576 |pages=2225–2229 |doi=10.1126/science.1069424 |issn=0036-8075 |pmid=12029063|bibcode=2002Sci...296.2225G |s2cid=10069634 |doi-access=free }} According to the haplotype-block model, such blocks should show high levels of linkage disequilibrium and be separated from one another by numerous recombination events.{{cite journal |last1=Wall |first1=Jeffrey D. |last2=Pritchard |first2=Jonathan K. |authorlink2=Jonathan K. Pritchard |title=Haplotype blocks and linkage disequilibrium in the human genome |journal=Nature Reviews Genetics |date=1 August 2003 |volume=4 |issue=8 |pages=587–597 |doi=10.1038/nrg1123|pmid=12897771 |s2cid=15478115 }} The boundaries of haplotype blocks cannot be directly observed; they must instead be inferred indirectly through the use of algorithms. However, some evidence suggests that different algorithms for identifying haplotype blocks give very different results when used on the same data,{{cite journal |last1=Schulze |first1=Thomas G. |last2=Zhang |first2=Kui |last3=Chen |first3=Yu-Sheng |last4=Akula |first4=Nirmala |last5=Sun |first5=Fengzhu |last6=McMahon |first6=Francis J. |title=Defining haplotype blocks and tag single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the human genome |journal=Human Molecular Genetics |date=1 February 2004 |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=335–342 |doi=10.1093/hmg/ddh035|pmid=14681300 |doi-access=free }} though another study suggests that their results are generally consistent.{{cite journal |last1=Indap |first1=Amit R |last2=Marth |first2=Gabor T |last3=Struble |first3=Craig A |last4=Tonellato |first4=Peter |last5=Olivier |first5=Michael |title=Analysis of concordance of different haplotype block partitioning algorithms |journal=BMC Bioinformatics |date=2005 |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=303 |doi=10.1186/1471-2105-6-303|pmid=16356172 |pmc=1343594 |doi-access=free }} The National Institutes of Health funded the HapMap project to catalog haplotype blocks throughout the human genome.{{cite journal |last1=Cardon |first1=Lon R. |last2=Abecasis |first2=Gonçalo R. |authorlink2=Gonçalo Abecasis|title=Using haplotype blocks to map human complex trait loci |journal=Trends in Genetics |date=March 2003 |volume=19 |issue=3 |pages=135–140 |doi=10.1016/S0168-9525(03)00022-2 |pmid=12615007|citeseerx=10.1.1.398.8937 }}
Definition
There are two main ways that the term "haplotype block" is defined: one based on whether a given genomic sequence displays higher linkage disequilibrium than a predetermined threshold, and one based on whether the sequence consists of a minimum number of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that explain a majority of the common haplotypes in the sequence (or a lower-than-usual number of unique haplotypes).{{cite journal |last1=Wang |first1=Ning |last2=Akey |first2=Joshua M. |last3=Zhang |first3=Kun |last4=Chakraborty |first4=Ranajit |last5=Jin |first5=Li |title=Distribution of Recombination Crossovers and the Origin of Haplotype Blocks: The Interplay of Population History, Recombination, and Mutation |journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics |date=November 2002 |volume=71 |issue=5 |pages=1227–1234 |doi=10.1086/344398|pmid=12384857 |pmc=385104 }} In 2001, Patil et al.{{cite journal |last1=Patil |first1=N |last2=Berno |first2=AJ |last3=Hinds |first3=DA |last4=Barrett |first4=WA |last5=Doshi |first5=JM |last6=Hacker |first6=CR |last7=Kautzer |first7=CR |last8=Lee |first8=DH |last9=Marjoribanks |first9=C |last10=McDonough |first10=DP |last11=Nguyen |first11=BT |last12=Norris |first12=MC |last13=Sheehan |first13=JB |last14=Shen |first14=N |last15=Stern |first15=D |last16=Stokowski |first16=RP |last17=Thomas |first17=DJ |last18=Trulson |first18=MO |last19=Vyas |first19=KR |last20=Frazer |first20=KA |last21=Fodor |first21=SP |last22=Cox |first22=DR |title=Blocks of limited haplotype diversity revealed by high-resolution scanning of human chromosome 21. |journal=Science |date=23 November 2001 |volume=294 |issue=5547 |pages=1719–23 |doi=10.1126/science.1065573 |pmid=11721056|bibcode=2001Sci...294.1719P |s2cid=14168219 }} proposed the following definition of the term: "Suppose we have a number of haplotypes consisting of a set of consecutive SNPs. A segment of consecutive SNPs is a block if at least α percent of haplotypes are represented more than once".{{cite journal |last1=Zhang |first1=Kui |last2=Calabrese |first2=Peter |last3=Nordborg |first3=Magnus |last4=Sun |first4=Fengzhu |title=Haplotype Block Structure and Its Applications to Association Studies: Power and Study Designs |journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics |date=December 2002 |volume=71 |issue=6 |pages=1386–1394 |doi=10.1086/344780|pmid=12439824 |pmc=378580 }}