LASER server: Ancestry tracing with genotypes or sequence reads

Abstract

To enable direct comparison of ancestry background in different studies, we developed LASER to estimate individual ancestry by placing either sezquenced or genotyped samples in a common ancestry space, regardless of the sequencing strategy or genotyping array used to characterize each sample. Here we describe the LASER server to facilitate application of the method to a wide range of genetic studies. The server provides genetic ancestry estimation for different geographic regions and user-friendly interactive visualization of the results. Availability and Implementation: The LASER server is freely accessible at http://laser.sph.umich. edu/.