In this review, we describe and discuss areas of potential biases in CNV detection for each of the four methods. In particular, we focus on issues pertaining to (i) mappability, (ii) GC-content bias, (iii) quality control measures of reads and (iv) difficulty in identifying duplications. To gain insights to some of the issues discussed, we also download real data from the 1000 Genomes Project and analyse its DOC data. We show examples of how reads in repeated regions can affect CNV detection, demonstrate current GC-correction algorithms, investigate sensitivity of DOC algorithm before and after quality control of reads and discuss reasons for which duplications are harder to detect than deletions.

It is now 5 years since the first genome-wide association studies (GWAS), published in 2005, identified a common risk allele with large effect size for age-related macular degeneration in a small sample set. Following this exciting finding, researchers have become optimistic about the prospect of the genome-wide association approach. However, most of the risk alleles identified in the subsequent GWAS for various complex diseases are common with small effect sizes (odds ratio o1.5). So far, more than 450 GWAS have been published and the associations of greater than 2000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) or genetic loci were reported. The aim of this review paper is to give an overview of the evolving field of GWAS, discuss the progress that has been made by GWAS and some of the interesting findings, and summarize what we have learned over the past 5 years about the genetic basis of human complex diseases. This review will focus on GWAS of SNPs association for complex diseases but not studies of copy number variations.

Regions of homozygosity (ROHs) are more abundant in the human genome than previously thought. These regions are without heterozygosity, i.e. all the genetic variations within the regions have two identical alleles. At present there are no standardized criteria for defining the ROHs resulting in the different studies using their own criteria in the analysis of homozygosity. Compared to the era of genotyping microsatellite markers, the advent of high-density single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping arrays has provided an unparalleled opportunity to comprehensively detect these regions in the whole genome in different populations. Several studies have identified ROHs which were associated with complex phenotypes such as schizophrenia, late-onset of Alzheimer's disease and height. Collectively, these studies have conclusively shown the abundance of ROHs larger than 1 Mb in outbred populations. The homozygosity association approach holds great promise in identifying genetic susceptibility loci harboring recessive variants for complex diseases and traits.

The advances in next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies have had a significant impact on epigenomic research. The arrival of NGS technologies has enabled a more powerful sequencing based method--that is, ChIP-Seq--to interrogate whole genome histone modifications, improving on the conventional microarray based method (ChIP-chip). Similarly, the first human DNA methylome was mapped using NGS technologies. More importantly, studies of DNA methylation and histone modification using NGS technologies have yielded new discoveries and improved our knowledge of human biology and diseases. The concept that cytosine methylation was restricted to CpG dinucleotides has only been recently challenged by new data generated from sequencing the DNA methylome. Approximately 25% of all cytosine methylation identified in stem cells was in a non-CG context. The non-CG methylation was more enriched in gene bodies and depleted in protein binding sites and enhancers. The recent developments of third generation sequencing technologies have shown promising results of directly sequencing methylated nucleotides and having the ability to differentiate between 5-methylcytosine and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine. The importance of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine remains largely unknown, but it has been found in various tissues. 5-hydroxymethylcytosine was particularly enriched at promoters and in intragenic regions (gene bodies) but was largely absent from non-gene regions in DNA from human brain frontal lobe tissue. The presence of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine in gene bodies was more positively correlated with gene expression levels. The importance of studying 5-methylcytosine and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine separately for their biological roles will become clearer when more efficient methods to distinguish them are available.