article_snippet: Because the population in Iceland has very little genetic diversity, scientists can find genetic variants that raise the chance of disease more easily.
article_snippet: So far, the work has provided promising results helping identify 20 million genetic variants among the Icelandic population.
article_snippet: Stefansson's team today published four papers online in Nature Genetics, all of which used the Icelandic data.
article_snippet: Six of the eight mutations in ABCA7 were also found to be present in other populations of European ancestry, including the US, indicating that the results are not specific to the Icelandic population.
article_snippet: the results are not specific to the Icelandic population also identify a variant of the gene ABCB4 that is significantly associated with the risk of developing liver disease.
article_snippet: whole-genome sequencing of the Icelandic population' the study demonstrates how DeCode is able to use national genealogies to infer rare genetic mutations throughout the population. '
article_snippet: Six of the eight mutations in ABCA7 were also found to be present in other populations of European ancestry, including the US, indicating that the results are not specific to the Icelandic population.
article_snippet: Because the population in Iceland has very little genetic diversity, scientists can find genetic variants that raise the chance of disease more easily.
highlights_snippet: Data reveals some surprising genetic mutations in Icelandic people .
  