Genome-based population clustering: Nuggets of truth buried in a pile of numbers?

Abstract

National/Ethnic population Mutation databases (NEMDBs) are online mutation depositories recording extensive information about the described genetic heterogeneity in populations and ethnic groups worldwide. FINDbase ( http://www.findbase.org ) is a database containing causative mutations and pharmacogenomic markers allele frequencies in various populations and ethnic groups. In this paper, we experiment with designing and applying new automated data mining techniques on the original FINDbase causative mutations data collection in an attempt to identify genomic relationships between populations. Furthermore, we have developed an interactive web-based visualization tool that enables users to correlate the information, determine the relationships and gain insight into the underlying data collection in a novel and meaningful way. © 2012 IFIP International Federation for Information Processing.