Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31937202›Full record

ArticleOpen biology2020

A practical view of fine-mapping and gene prioritization in the post-genome-wide association era.

R V Broekema, O B Bakker, I H Jonkers

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Open biology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 85 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
85citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
15.3field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

85 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 134 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  4. Review
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  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Natural variation suggests candidate genes underlying Caenorhabditis elegans susceptibility to diverse toxicants.Toxicological sciences : an official journal of the Society of Toxicology · 2026
    Article
  9. Review
  10. Article
  11. The genetics of hypertension.Nature reviews. Nephrology · 2026
    Review
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Natural variation suggests candidate genes underlyingbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025
    Article
  15. Utilising genomic association data for causal inference in anorexia nervosa.Mammalian genome : official journal of the International Mammalian Genome Society · 2025
    Review
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25 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

R V BroekemaDepartment of Genetics, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
O B BakkerDepartment of Genetics, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
I H JonkersDepartment of Genetics, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
University Medical Center Groningen · NL

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Over the past 15 years, genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have enabled the systematic identification of genetic loci associated with traits and diseases. However, due to resolution issues and methodological limitations, the true causal variants and genes associated with traits remain difficult to identify. In this post-GWAS era, many biological and computational fine-mapping approaches now aim to solve these issues. Here, we review fine-mapping and gene prioritization approaches that, when combined, will improve the understanding of the underlying mechanisms of complex traits and diseases. Fine-mapping of genetic variants has become increasingly sophisticated: initially, variants were simply overlapped with functional elements, but now the impact of variants on regulatory activity and direct variant-gene 3D interactions can be identified. Moreover, gene manipulation by CRISPR/Cas9, the identification of expression quantitative trait loci and the use of co-expression networks have all increased our understanding of the genes and pathways affected by GWAS loci. However, despite this progress, limitations including the lack of cell-type- and disease-specific data and the ever-increasing complexity of polygenic models of traits pose serious challenges. Indeed, the combination of fine-mapping and gene prioritization by statistical, functional and population-based strategies will be necessary to truly understand how GWAS loci contribute to complex traits and diseases.

Indexed as

Chromosome MappingGenesGenome-Wide Association StudyQuantitative Trait LociAllelesEpistasis, GeneticGene Expression RegulationGenetic Predisposition to DiseaseGenetics, PopulationGenetic VariationHumansMultifactorial InheritancePhenotypePolymorphism, Single NucleotideQuantitative Trait, Heritablecausal variants and genescomplex traitsfine-mappinggenome-wide association studypolygenic diseasessingle-nucleotide polymorphisms

Identifiers

PMID31937202
PMCPMC7014684
OpenAlexW2999009832

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.