Effects of cis and trans Genetic Ancestry on Gene Expression in African Americans:
ariation in gene expression is a fundamental aspect of human phenotypic variation, and understanding how this variation is apportioned among human populations is an important aim. Previous studies have compared gene expression levels between distinct populations, but it is unclear whether the differences that were observed have a genetic or nongenetic basis. Admixed populations, such as African Americans, offer a solution to this problem because individuals vary in their proportion of European ancestry while the analysis of a single population minimizes nongenetic factors. Here, we show that differences in gene expression among African Americans of different ancestry proportions validate gene expression differences between European and African populations. Furthermore, by drawing a distinction between an African American individual's ancestry at the location of a gene whose expression is being analyzed (cis) versus at distal locations (trans), we can use ancestry effects to quantify the relative contributions of cis and trans regulation to human gene expression. We estimate that 12±3% of all heritable variation in human gene expression is due to cis variants.
p-ter, Popgen Ramblings and Dan MacArthur already covered it very well.