Specifically, at the IFNG locus on chromosome 12, only genes on the positive strand (for example, LINC01479, IFNG-AS1, HNRNPA1P70 and MRPL21 pseudogene) were DEGs between AF and SR when considering strand information, which contrasts with a previous report that implicated genes on the negative strand (for example, IFNG and MDM1; Extended Data Fig. 2)15. Here, MRPL21 is linked to atrial fibrillation.