A Novel Approach to Gene Expression Analysis of Ethnicities

Microarrays are important tools to measure the gene expression levels in cells. However, these technologies have major limitations, such as their inability to detect genetic aberrations. A computational method was developed and implemented to analyze gene expression patterns more efficiently than current technologies. This approach was applied to biologically understand the gene expression patterns in the American European, Great British, and Yoruba African ethnic groups. Initial results showed that 74 genes with the lowest p-value and the largest log(FPKM) expression value were the most differentially expressed. Protein modeling for the isoforms of these genes indicated differences primarily in cellular processes. The CCL4L1 gene was chosen for further analysis, and indicated higher expression and binding affinity in the Yoruba population, suggesting greater ability for HIV inhibition. The results gleaned from this method can assist in the development of targeted cancer therapeutics and optimized drug designs for ethnicities.