Detecting genetic effects on phenotype variability to capture gene-by-environment interactions: a systematic method comparison.

ABSTRACT: Genetically associated phenotypic variability has been widely observed across organisms and traits, including in humans. Both gene-gene and gene-environment interactions can lead to an increase in genetically associated phenotypic variability. Therefore, detecting the underlying genetic variants, or variance Quantitative Trait Loci (vQTLs), can provide novel insights into complex traits. Established approaches to detect vQTLs apply different methodologies from variance-only approaches to mean-variance joint tests, but a comprehensive comparison of these methods is lacking. Here, we review available methods to detect vQTLs in humans, carry out a simulation study to assess their performance under different biological scenarios of gene-environment interactions, and apply the optimal approache

SUBMITTER: Zhang X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10989912 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature