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. 2022 Apr 15;376(6590):250-252.
doi: 10.1126/science.abm7530. Epub 2022 Apr 14.

Getting genetic ancestry right for science and society

Anna C F Lewis  1 , Santiago J Molina  1 , Paul S Appelbaum  1 , Bege Dauda  1 , Anna Di Rienzo  1 , Agustin Fuentes  1 , Stephanie M Fullerton  1 , Nanibaa' A Garrison  1 , Nayanika Ghosh  1 , Evelynn M Hammonds  1 , David S Jones  1 , Eimear E Kenny  1 , Peter Kraft  1 , Sandra S-J Lee  1 , Madelyn Mauro  1 , John Novembre  1 , Aaron Panofsky  1 , Mashaal Sohail  1 , Benjamin M Neale  1 , Danielle S Allen  1
Affiliations

Getting genetic ancestry right for science and society

Anna C F Lewis et al. Science. .

Abstract

We must embrace a multidimensional, continuous view of ancestry and move away from continental ancestry categories.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. The continuous, category free, nature of genetic variation.
Colored dots (N=4149) are reference panel individuals from 87 populations representing ancestry from 7 continental or subcontinental regions projected onto the first two principal components of genetic similarity. Gray dots (N=31705) are participants from BioMe, a diverse biobank based in New York City. Clearly delineated continental ancestry categories, the islands of color, are shown to be a by-product of sampling strategy. They are not reflective of the diversity in this real-world dataset, made evident by the continuous sea of gray. Reproduced/modified from (12).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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