Long tandem repeats as a form of genomic copy number variation: structure and length polymorphism of a chromosome 5p repeat in control and schizophrenia populations.

Objectives: Genomic copy number variations (CNVs) are a major form of variation in the human genome and play an etiologic role in several neuropsychiatric diseases. Tandem repeats, particularly with long (>50 bp) repeat units, are a relatively common yet underexplored type of CNV that may significantly contribute to human genomic variation and disease risk. We therefore carried out a pilot experiment to explore the potential role of long tandem repeats as risk factors in psychiatric disorders.