Illumina Introduces the Infinium^® HumanLinkage-12 Genotyping BeadChip

Illumina, Inc. today announced the introduction of the Infinium HumanLinkage-12 Genotyping BeadChip, Illumina’s fifth multi-sample Infinium BeadChip and the Company’s first standard panel to take advantage of a twelve-sample format for linkage analysis.

The HumanLinkage-12 BeadChip offers the lowest cost per sample for linkage analysis plus industry-leading call rates, uniform marker distribution, and superior SNP content. Powered by the Infinium Assay, this linkage panel is available for $90/sample, a competitive price with a PCR-free protocol and easy workflow. This new addition to the Linkage portfolio complements Illumina’s GoldenGate^® Human Linkage V Panel, which is particularly suitable for degraded samples such as formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE). The HumanLinkage-12 BeadChip is also available for researchers interested in conducting linkage analysis studies via Illumina’s FastTrack Genotyping Service.

Linkage analysis maps the location of disease-causing loci by identifying genetic markers that are co-inherited with the phenotype of interest. According to a paper published in the journal Human Molecular Genetics by the International Multiple Sclerosis Consortium significant additional power can be obtained using high-throughput SNP genotyping for linkage analysis. This study, which revisited previously typed complex disease family cohorts, also reported that higher success rates and accuracy were found with Illumina’s technology.

Building on the success of the GoldenGate panels, Illumina decided to deploy the same linkage content on the 12-sample Infinium BeadChip. “We continue to see a need for linkage analysis tools, and for a number of years have had great success with Illumina's GoldenGate Assay for these kinds of studies. Now, we plan to run between 40,000 and 50,000 samples using the Infinium Assay to study diseases spanning schizophrenia to obesity,” said Kimberly F. Doheny, Ph.D., Assistant Director of the Center for Inherited Disease Research (CIDR) and Director of the Genetics Resources Core Facility SNP Center of the Johns Hopkins Institute of Genetic Medicine.

Douglas F. Levinson, M.D, Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine is a long-time user of Illumina's GoldenGate Human Linkage IV Panel and says, “We began using the GoldenGate Assay when we started a linkage scan of over 4,000 members of families with schizophrenia. This product provided us with increased robustness, and helped us achieve genotyping call rates of 99.9 percent and information content well over 90 percent, so no further fine-mapping was required.”

“The twelve-sample BeadChip and the flexibility of the Infinium Assay provide researchers with the industry’s most cost-effective method for studying linkage with the highest information content. As with any Infinium product, this panel can also be used to study copy number variation, which is gaining great momentum in medical genetic studies. Coupled with the industry’s best data quality, the HumanLinkage-12 BeadChip now makes it significantly easier for researchers to conduct studies that uncover links between familial genotypes,” said Carsten Rosenow, Ph.D., Senior Marketing Manager, DNA Analysis at Illumina.