The array is the third population-designed array for the Axiom Genotyping Solution and one of several additional arrays commercialized this year.
To design the array, researchers at the Bio-X Center of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Beijing’s Fuwai Hospital took advantage of more than 10 million validated markers in the Axiom Genomic Database, including content drawn from the 1000 Genomes Project, as well as Han Chinese data made available through the International HapMap Project.
The array also offers coverage across chromosomes X and Y, the mitochondrial genome and drug metabolism genes (ADMET).
The Axiom Genome-Wide CHB 1 Array optimizes genomic coverage of common alleles from the Han Chinese genome.
Compared to competing arrays with a similar number of markers, it has coverage of variants in important biological categories such as the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) Catalog of Published Genome Wide Association Studies, Sanger Cancer Genome Census genes, MHC genes, cardiovascular genes, and immune and inflammation pathway genes.
Affymetrix CCO Andy Last said Axiom Genome-Wide Arrays allow researchers to better match cases and controls within ethnic groups to focus only on differences by disease state, not structural differences between populations.
"The Axiom Genome-Wide CHB 1 Array is ideally suited to customers interested in exploring the genetic complexities underlying disease in Han Chinese populations and in populations of Chinese descent," Last said.
