Language

English

Publication Date

10-6-2025

Journal

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-025-63340-2

PMID

41053080

PMCID

PMC12500861

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

10-6-2025

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Abstract

The Genome Aggregation Database (gnomAD) is a foundational resource for allele frequency data, widely used in genomic research and clinical interpretation. However, traditional estimates rely on individual-level genetic ancestry groupings that may obscure variation in recently admixed populations. To improve resolution, we applied local ancestry inference (LAI) to over 27 million variants in two admixed groups: Admixed American (n = 7612) and African/African American (n = 20,250), deriving ancestry-specific allele frequencies. We show that 78.5% and 85.1% of variants in these groups, respectively, exhibit at least a twofold difference in ancestry-specific frequencies. Moreover, 81.49% of variants with LAI information would be assigned a higher gnomAD-wide maximum frequency after incorporating LAI, potentially altering clinical interpretations. This LAI-informed release reveals clinically relevant frequency differences that are masked in aggregate estimates and may support reclassifying some variants from Uncertain Significance to Benign or Likely Benign.

Keywords

Humans, Black or African American, Databases, Genetic, Gene Frequency, Genetics, Population, Genome, Human, Genomics, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, European People, American Indian or Alaska Native, Haplotypes, Genetic databases, Genetic variation

Published Open-Access

yes

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.