Despite great progress in identifying genetic variants that influence human disease, most inherited risk remains unexplained. A more complete understanding requires genome-wide studies that fully examine less common alleles in populations with a wide range of ancestry. To inform the design and interpretation of such studies, we genotyped 1.6 million common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 1,184 reference individuals from 11 global populations, and sequenced ten 100-kilobase regions in 692 of these individuals. This integrated data set of common and rare alleles, called ‘HapMap 3’, includes both SNPs and copy number polymorphisms (CNPs). We characterized population-specific differences among low-frequency variants, measured the improvement in imputation accuracy afforded by the larger reference panel, especially in imputing SNPs with a minor allele frequency of ≤5%, and demonstrated the feasibility of imputing newly discovered CNPs and SNPs. This expanded public resource of genome variants in global populations supports deeper interrogation of genomic variation and its role in human disease, and serves as a step towards a high-resolution map of the landscape of human genetic variation. The International HapMap Consortium, established to develop a haplotype map of the human genome describing the common patterns of DNA sequence variation, has now reached its third incarnation. HapMap1, published in 2005 (go.nature.com/gJisDm), contained more than a million SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) genotypes generated in 269 individuals from four geographically diverse populations. Two years later, HapMap2 (go.nature.com/WttNWX) added more than 2.1 million SNPs to the original map in the same 269 individuals. With the aim of providing a resource for the latest wave of genome-wide studies focused on disease linkages, HapMap3 casts the net wider. About 1.6 million common SNPs were genotyped in 1,184 individuals from 11 global populations, and ten 100-kilobase regions were sequenced in 692 of these individuals. Here, the analysis of 'HapMap 3' is reported — a public data set of genomic variants in human populations. The resource integrates common and rare single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and copy number polymorphisms (CNPs) from 11 global populations, providing insights into population-specific differences among variants. It also demonstrates the feasibility of imputing newly discovered rare SNPs and CNPs.

Integrating common and rare genetic variation in diverse human populations