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Oral clefts, the most frequent congenital birth defects in humans, are multifactorial disorders caused by genetic and environmental factors. Epidemiological studies point to different etiologies underlying the oral cleft phenotypes, cleft lip (CL), CL and/or palate (CL/P) and cleft palate (CP). More than 350 genes have syndromic and/or nonsyndromic oral cleft associations in humans. Although genes related to genetic disorders associated with oral cleft phenotypes are known, a gap between detecting these associations and interpretation of their biological importance has remained. Here, using a gene ontology analysis approach, we grouped these candidate genes on the basis of different functional categories to gain insight into the genetic etiology of oral clefts. We identified different genetic profiles and found correlations between the functions of gene products and oral cleft phenotypes. Our results indicate inherent …