Reporting and representation of population descriptors in public RNA-seq databases.

Over half of public RNA-seq samples originate from US institutions, with 90% from high-income countries, yet only 3% include population descriptors, revealing significant bias.

• Why it matters: Accurate and comprehensive population metadata are crucial for ensuring diversity and representativeness in genomic research, impacting the validity of scientific and medical insights.
• What they did: The study analyzed metadata from RNA-seq datasets in SRA and GENCODE, comparing geographic, economic, and genetic ancestry data, and assessed reporting trends over time.
• The result: Findings highlight a major bias toward European and White populations and underscore the urgent need for standardized, detailed population reporting to improve dataset diversity and utility.