To evaluate strategies for reference panel construction in African populations, we performed cross-validation experiments in genotypes that were kindly provided by the Malaria Genetic Epidemiology Network (MalariaGEN; Malaria Genomic Epidemiology Network 2008). The data we used were collected by MalariaGEN investigators for genome-wide association studies of human resistance or susceptibility to severe malaria. The individuals in these datasets were recruited at medical centers in the Gambia and Ghana; we henceforth refer to these samples by the tags GMB and GHN, respectively, with the understanding that they may not represent the full spectrum of genetic diversity in the countries of origin. Further details about the study recruitment are available at www.malariagen.net.
