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bioRxiv · 10.64898/2026.01.28.701168

The performance of genetic-constraint metrics varies significantly across the human noncoding genome

McHale, P.·Goldberg, M. E.·Quinlan, A. R.
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Abstract

A longstanding goal in human genetics is to prioritize noncoding loci that, when disrupted, lead to developmental disorders and other Mendelian traits. In pursuit of this goal, multiple metrics have been developed to distinguish neutrally evolving sequences from those subjected to purifying selection. These metrics are commonly evaluated genome-wide, e.g., by computing a precision-recall curve on windows tiling the entire noncoding genome. Here, we identify parts of the noncoding genome where these metrics significantly underperform relative to their genome-wide performance due to "bias" in the underlying models of neutral genetic variation and/or a low "signal-to-noise ratio" in the genetic data. The most extreme effects are found for Gnocchi (Chen et al. 2024), the performance of which declines as GC content increases. We suggest annotating constraint scores of noncoding genomic intervals with robust measures of the bias of the corresponding model, allowing users to gauge confidence in those scores.

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McHale, P., Goldberg, M. E., Quinlan, A. R.. 2026-01-28. The performance of genetic-constraint metrics varies significantly across the human noncoding genome. https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.01.28.701168

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