Variance component methods for detecting complex trait loci.
Variance component-based linkage analysis has become a major statistical tool for the localization and evaluation of quantitative trait loci influencing complex phenotypes. The variance component approach has many benefits--it can, for example, be used to analyze large pedigrees, and it is able to accommodate multiple loci simultaneously in a true oligogenic model. Important biological phenomena such as genotype-environment interaction and epistasis are also examined easily in a variance component framework. In this chapter, we review the basic statistical features of variance component linkage analysis, with an emphasis on its power and robustness to distributional violations.
Blangero
J
J
Department of Genetics, Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, San Antonio, Texas 78245, USA.
Williams
J T
JT
Almasy
L
L
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D008040:Genetic Linkage; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009679:Nuclear Family; D010641:Phenotype; D019655:Quantitative Trait, Heritable