Improved treatments for UAE residents could be the result of a major project to study genetic variation in the UAE population. Researchers say the recently published work on the Emirati pangenome – a database describing genetic variation among Emiratis – is a step towards the use of personalized medicine, reported by The National.
Personalized medicine is considered one of the most exciting frontiers of modern science, as it offers the opportunity to tailor treatments to a patient’s genetic makeup. The findings, published on bioRxiv, are the latest from the Emirates Genome Project, a national initiative to characterize the genetic variation of hundreds of thousands of Emiratis.
Regional breakthrough
Professor Habiba Al Safar, dean of the College of Medicine and Health Sciences at Khalifa University and senior author of the paper, said the work aims to address gaps in global genetic research “that often miss the Middle Eastern population.” According to genetic features, the genome belongs to different ethnic groups, mainly Caucasian, African and Asian, but there is a gap with the Arab population.
Reiterating this, the researchers stated in their paper that reference human pangenomes only cover a narrow part of the global human genetic diversity, which has led to initiatives focused on specific populations such as Africans, Arabs or Chinese. However, significant gaps remain, especially for Middle Eastern populations, whose unique genetic landscapes are shaped by indigenous origins, historical trade routes and extensive global connectivity.
A revolution in medicine
According to Professor Al Safar, the Emirati pangenome “captures the collective genetic diversity of the population”, which includes records of “unique structural variants”. These are areas where DNA has been rearranged, for example through insertions, deletions or inversions of a region. The pangenome also captures what geneticists call single-nucleotide polymorphisms, which are the smallest and most common variants involving a single change in the “letters” of the genetic code that make up a person’s genetic information.
The pangenome data enables the development of personalized medicine by identifying individual genetic risk factors. The potential of personalized medicine is such that a new field has emerged, pharmacogenetics, which studies how certain types of a person’s genes affect their response to drugs. The Emirates Genome Program has so far included collecting genetic material from approximately 600,000 people, or about half of the Emirati population. The Emirati pangenome is more than a scientific achievement. It symbolizes the UAE’s ambition to become a world leader in the life sciences. The country is positioning itself at the forefront of genomics.