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Updated: Oct 5, 2025

Detection of Copy Number Alterations Using Single Cell Sequencing
Published on: February 17, 2017
JAX-CNV: A Whole-genome Sequencing-based Algorithm for Copy Number Detection at Clinical Grade Level
Wan-Ping Lee1, Qihui Zhu2, Xiaofei Yang3
1Precision Medicine Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710061, China; The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, Farmington, CT 06032, USA; School of Cyber Science and Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China; Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
Abstract:
We aimed to develop a whole-genome sequencing (WGS)-based copy number variant (CNV) calling algorithm with the potential of replacing chromosomal microarray assay (CMA) for clinical diagnosis. JAX-CNV is thus developed for CNV detection from WGS data. The performance of this CNV calling algorithm was evaluated in a blinded manner on 31 samples and compared to the 112 CNVs reported by clinically validated CMAs for these 31 samples. The result showed that JAX-CNV recalled 100% of these CNVs. Besides, JAX-CNV identified an average of 30 CNVs per individual, respresenting an approximately seven-fold increase compared to calls of clinically validated CMAs. Experimental validation of 24 randomly selected CNVs showed one false positive, i.e., a false discovery rate (FDR) of 4.17%. A robustness test on lower-coverage data revealed a 100% sensitivity for CNVs larger than 300 kb (the current threshold for College of American Pathologists) down to 10× coverage. For CNVs larger than 50 kb, sensitivities were 100% for coverages deeper than 20×, 97% for 15×, and 95% for 10×. We developed a WGS-based CNV pipeline, including this newly developed CNV caller JAX-CNV, and found it capable of detecting CMA-reported CNVs at a sensitivity of 100% with about a FDR of 4%. We propose that JAX-CNV could be further examined in a multi-institutional study to justify the transition of first-tier genetic testing from CMAs to WGS. JAX-CNV is available at https://github.com/TheJacksonLaboratory/JAX-CNV.
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