Successful use of whole genome amplified DNA from multiple source types for high-density Illumina SNP microarrays

Abstract

Background: The recommended genomic DNA input requirements for whole genome single nucleotide polymorphism microarrays can limit the scope of molecular epidemiological studies. We performed a large-scale evaluation of whole genome amplified DNA as input into high-density, whole-genome Illumina® Infinium® SNP microarray. Results: Overall, 6622 DNA samples from 5970 individuals were obtained from three distinct biospecimen sources and genotyped using gDNA and/or wgaDNA inputs. When genotypes from the same individual were compared with standard, native gDNA input amount, we observed 99.94% mean concordance with wgaDNA input. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that carefully conducted studies with wgaDNA inputs can yield high-quality genotyping results. These findings should enable investigators to consider expansion of ongoing studies using high-density SNP microarrays, currently challenged by small amounts of available DNA.