We developed a generic approach to type genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms in single human cells and to reconstruct for the first time genome-wide haplotypes of single- or dual-cell derived genotypes. Proof-of-principle is delivered for EBV-transformed lymphoblastoid cells as well as human blastomeres. To this end, multiple displacement amplified DNA samples of single cells were hybridized to Affymetrix 250K SNP-arrays. Different algorithmic designs were subsequently developed to assess from the single-cell derived SNP-probe intensities the sequence of syntenic alleles and to pinpoint accurately the majority of parental homologous recombination sites across the entire genome using a linkage-based approach. This included the development of algorithms that rectify a large part of the discrepant allelic assignments in raw single or dual-cell derived haplotypes. This method to infer genome-wide haplotypes from the analysis of only one or two cells has tremendous applicative value. It has the capacity to revolutionize not only genetic diagnosis of preimplantation in vitro fertilized human embryos in the clinic, but also animal breeding programs by enabling genome-wide quantitative trait loci selection at the embryonic level. In addition, it allows to further scrutinize drivers of haplotype diversity, mainly meiotic homologous recombination as well as somatic (homologous) recombination processes that occur often during (human) tumorigenesis.
