natural selection on bio-molecular pathways rather than on individual proteins. With that being said, it was found that proteins in the periphery of the pathway are enriched in copy number variations whereas proteins in the center of the pathways are depleted in copy number variations. It was explained that proteins in the periphery of the pathway interact with fewer proteins and so a change in protein dosage affected by a change in copy number may have a smaller effect on the overall outcome of the cellular pathway. In the past few years, researchers seem to have shifted their focus from detecting, locating, and sequencing copy number variations to in depth analyses of the role of these copy number variations in the human genome and in nature in general. Evidence is needed to further validate the relationship between copy number variations and gene families as well as the role that natural selection plays in shaping these relationships and changes. Furthermore, researchers are also aiming to elucidate the molecular mechanisms involved in copy number variations as it may reveal essential information regarding structural variations in general. Taking a step back, the area of structural variation in the human genome seems to be a rapidly growing research topic. Not only can these research data provide additional evidence for evolution and natural selection, it can also be used to develop treatments for a wide range of genetic diseases. See also CaSNP, a database Comparative genomics Copy number analysis Human genome Inparanoid Molecular evolution Pseudogenes Segmental duplication Tandem exon duplication Virtual karyotype References Further reading External links Copy Number Variation Project, Sanger Institute The Claim: Identical Twins Have Identical DNA Integrative annotation platform for copy number variations in humans A bibliography on copy number variation Database of Genomic Variants, a database of structural variants in the human genome Copy Number Variation Detection via High-Density SNP Genotyping Oxford Gene Technology BioDiscovery Nexus Copy Number High-resolution mapping of copy number variations in 2,026 healthy individuals IGSR: The International Genome Sample Resource cn.FARMS: a latent variable model to detect copy number variations in microarray data with a low false discovery rate, an R package—software cn.MOPS: mixture of Poissons for discovering copy number variations in next generation sequencing data—software Molecular biology Genomics Human evolution