Functional significance of genetic polymorphisms

Abstract

Natural genetic polymorphisms are gifts from nature and sources of variations at all levels. The post-genomic era permits new perspectives on interpreting genetic polymorphisms and also poses challenges for scientists to answer system questions. Rather than a comprehensive coverage of genetic polymorphisms up-to-date, this review attempts to present some of the results in a somewhat coherent manner to highlight the needs and potentials of pertinent studies.

Keywords

omics / genetic polymorphism / metabolic pathway / functional significance / neutral status

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Acknowledgements

The study was supported by grants from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. 171846). The author thanks the reviewers for constructive comments.

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2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg