We demonstrate that SV classes are disproportionally enriched (by up to ∼50-fold) for SV-eQTLs, although only 220 SVs were found either as lead eQTL association or in high LD with the respective lead SNP. While this corresponds to proportionally fewer associations relative to SNPs compared to a prior estimate based on array technology34, this may be explained by the reliance of this prior estimate on bacterial artificial chromosome arrays, which ascertain large SVs (>50 kbp) that associate with strong effect size, as well as by the relative scarcity of SNPs tested in an earlier study34 (HapMap Phase I)39. We further expand the number of candidate SVs in strong LD with GWAS hits by ∼30% (39/136 novel associations implicating SVs as candidates) and find that GWAS haplotypes are enriched up to threefold for common SVs, which emphasizes the relevance of ascertaining SVs in disease studies. The large number of novel SVs smaller than 1 kbp in length associated with previously reported GWAS hits highlights the importance of increasing sensitivity for SV detection and genotyping at this size range. Additionally, the large number of rare SVs captured by our resource may be of value for disease association studies investigating rare variants.
