Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Background
Despite clear evidence of nonlinear interactions in the molecular architecture of polygenic diseases, linear models have so far appeared optimal in genotype-to-phenotype modeling. A key bottleneck for such modeling is that genetic data intrinsically suffers from underdetermination ([Formula: see text]). Millions of variants are present in each individual while the collection of large, homogeneous cohorts is hindered by phenotype incidence, sequencing cost, and batch effects.Results
We demonstrate that when we provide enough training data and control the complexity of nonlinear models, a neural network outperforms additive approaches in whole exome sequencing-based inflammatory bowel disease case-control prediction. To do so, we propose a biologically meaningful sparsified neural network architecture, providing empirical evidence for positive and negative epistatic effects present in the inflammatory bowel disease pathogenesis.Conclusions
In this paper, we show that underdetermination is likely a major driver for the apparent optimality of additive modeling in clinical genetics today.
SUBMITTER: Verplaetse N
PROVIDER: S-EPMC10552306 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

Verplaetse Nora N Passemiers Antoine A Arany Adam A Moreau Yves Y Raimondi Daniele D
Genome biology 20231005 1
<h4>Background</h4>Despite clear evidence of nonlinear interactions in the molecular architecture of polygenic diseases, linear models have so far appeared optimal in genotype-to-phenotype modeling. A key bottleneck for such modeling is that genetic data intrinsically suffers from underdetermination ([Formula: see text]). Millions of variants are present in each individual while the collection of large, homogeneous cohorts is hindered by phenotype incidence, sequencing cost, and batch effects.<h ...[more]