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Sample quality control

For a small proportion of samples, the sequencing data are not of sufficiently high quality to make reliable CNV calls.

Case flags

If CNV data for a proband do not pass this quality control step, the family is flagged in the Interpretation Portal with one of the following flags:

Flag Summary
poor quality cnv calls majority of the CNV calls in the sample are expected to be of poor quality
suspected poor quality cnv calls some of the CNV calls in the sample are expected to be of poor quality

Quality control metrics

Sample level quality control is performed based on the number and ratio of different call types and the proportion of common CNVs detected. The three metrics that we use to assess sample quality are:

  • The count of autosomal PASS CNVs
  • The log2 proportion of autosomal PASS LOSS CNVs to GAIN CNVs
  • The proportion of autosomal PASS CNVs that are common, as defined by having a 50% reciprocal overlap with a CNV from Conrad et al. 2010.

Quality control metrics thresholds

The figures below outline the thresholds applied for each metric. The density curve represents the distribution of samples relative to these thresholds.

The case will have a poor quality cnv calls flag if the proband sample has:

  • count of autosomal PASS CNVs ≥ 980 or
  • Log2(Loss/Gain) < -2.2

The case will have a suspected poor quality cnv calls flag if the proband sample has:

  • count of autosomal PASS CNVs ≥ 195 and < 980, or ≤ 121 or
  • Log2(Loss/Gain) ≥ -2.2 and ≤ -1.0, or ≥ 0.1 or
  • fraction of common autosomal PASS CNV calls < 0.375

CNV QC Thresholds