Moroccan genome project: Genomic insight into a North African population

Abstract

Africa's 1.5 billion people are underrepresented in genomic databases. The African Genome Variation Project exclusively studied populations south of the Sahara, making Morocco, on Africa's northwest coast, a desirable genetic variety study site. Understanding genetic variation and customized therapy require population-specific reference genomes. This study presents Phase 1 results from the Moroccan Genome Project (MGP), which sequenced 109 Moroccan genomes. Of the 27 million variations we found, 1.4 million were unique and 15,378 were highly prevalent in Morocco. The first Moroccan Major Allele Reference Genome (MMARG) was built utilizing high-coverage consensus sequences from 109 whole genomes. The latter more accurately depicts Moroccan genetic variations than GRCh38. To support regional population-specific initiatives and precision medicine in Morocco and North Africa, this baseline research created a high-quality reference genome and genetic variation database. The results stress the necessity of population-relevant data in Human genetic research.