Next generation sequencing also allows the complete sequencing of large genomic regions around association signals or linkage peaks for multiple individuals. The large number of DNA variants such studies identify, especially variants in intergenic space, make it difficult to determine their likely role in disease. However many of the genomic approaches we mentioned here, including gene regulation mapping which can utilize RNA-seq, epigenomic and other DNA-protein interaction analyses utilizing ChIP-seq, together with a multitude of other laboratory and in silico approaches to genetic function that we do not have the space to discuss, will provide guides that will help us sort through the identified sequence variants and identify those that underlie disease.
