NEW YORK (AP) " A huge catalog of human DNA is helping researchers find tiny glitches that cause disease, in part by pointing out some false leads. For rare diseases, doctors try to find the genetic cause by analyzing the patient's DNA. It provides a far more comprehensive collection of DNA variations than has been available in the past. Researchers looked at 192 DNA variations that had been linked to diseases, but which ExAC showed were actually so common in the general population that those links appeared spurious. That probably reflects the influence of the ExAC database, MacArthur saidBut databases even bigger than ExAC will be needed to decisively link genetic variations to disease or rule them out, he said.

Source: New Zealand Herald August 17, 2016 19:37 UTC