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The Effect of Pedigree Complexity on Quantitative Trait Linkage Analysis
Author(s) -
Dyer Thomas D.,
Blangero John,
Williams Jeff T.,
Göring Harald H.H.,
Mahaney Michael C.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
genetic epidemiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.301
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 1098-2272
pISSN - 0741-0395
DOI - 10.1002/gepi.2001.21.s1.s236
Subject(s) - pedigree chart , inbreeding , linkage (software) , identity by descent , quantitative trait locus , statistic , trait , genetic linkage , lod score , genetics , biology , statistics , computer science , monte carlo method , allele , mathematics , chromosome , gene mapping , gene , demography , population , haplotype , sociology , programming language
Due to the computational difficulties of performing linkage analysis on large complex pedigrees, most investigators resort to simplifying such pedigrees by some ad hoc strategy. In this paper, we suggest an analytical method to compare the power of various pedigree simplification schemes by using the asymptotic distribution of the likelihood‐ratio statistic. We applied the method to the large Hutterite pedigree. Our results indicate that the breaking and reduction of inbreeding loops can greatly diminish the power to localize quantitative trait loci. We also present an efficient Monte Carlo method for estimating identity‐by‐descent allele sharing in large complex pedigrees. This method is used to facilitate a linkage analysis of serum IgE levels in the Hutterites without simplifying the pedigree. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.