Kinship estimation bias carries over to heritability estimation bias using variance components.

ABSTRACT: Heritability is a fundamental parameter of diseases and other traits, quantifying the contribution of genetics to that trait. Kinship matrices, also known as Genetic Relatedness Matrices or "GRMs", are required for heritability estimation with variance components models. However, the most common "standard" kinship estimator employed by GCTA and other approaches, can be severely biased in structured populations. In this study, we characterize heritability estimation biases in GCTA due to kinship estimation biases under population structure. For the standard ratio-of-means (ROM) kinship estimator, we derive a closed-form expression for heritability bias given by the mean kinship value and the true heritability. The standard mean-of-ratios (MOR) estimator is the most widely used

SUBMITTER: Hou Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12132259 | biostudies-literature | 2025 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature