title: Multitrait analysis of quantitative trait loci using Bayesian composite space approach.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Multitrait analysis of quantitative trait loci can capture the maximum information of experiment. The maximum-likelihood approach and the least-square approach have been developed to jointly analyze multiple traits, but it is difficult for them to include multiple QTL simultaneously into one model.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In this article, we have successfully extended Bayesian composite space approach, which is an efficient model selection method that can easily handle multiple QTL, to multitrait mapping of QTL. There are many statistical innovations of the proposed method compared with Bayesian single trait analysis. The first is that the parameters for all traits are updated jointly by vector or matrix; secondly, for QTL in the same interval that control different traits, the correlation between QTL genotypes is taken into account; thirdly, the information about the relationship of residual error between the traits is also made good use of. The superiority of the new method over separate analysis was demonstrated by both simulated and real data. The computing program was written in FORTRAN and it can be available for request.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that the developed new method is more powerful than separate analysis.
authors.affiliation: Life Science College, Heilongjiang August First Land Reclamation University, Daqing, 163319, PR China. fangming618@126.com
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Li Jun
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Pu
authors.forename: Hui Jiang
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.forename: Hong Yi
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Run Qing
authors.initials: RQ
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D001499:Bayes Theorem; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D008957:Models, Genetic; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D040641:Quantitative Trait Loci