title: Controlling for false positive findings of trans-hubs in expression quantitative trait loci mapping.
abstract: In the fast-developing field of expression quantitative traits loci (eQTL) studies, much interest has been concentrated on detecting genomic regions containing transcriptional regulators that influence multiple expression phenotypes (trans-hubs). In this paper, we develop statistical methods for eQTL mapping and propose a new procedure for investigating candidate trans-hubs. We use data from the Genetic Analysis Workshop 15 to illustrate our methods. After correlations among expressions were accounted for, the previously detected trans-hubs are no longer significant. Our results suggest that conclusions regarding regulation hot spots should be treated with great caution.
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics, University of California, Davis, California 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: Public Health Science, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 1100 Fairview Avenue North, Seattle 98109 Washington, USA.
authors.forename: Pei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tang