Genetic architecture of complex traits: large phenotypic effects and pervasive epistasis.

ABSTRACT: The genetic architecture of complex traits underlying physiology and disease in most organisms remains elusive. We still know little about the number of genes that underlie these traits, the magnitude of their effects, or the extent to which they interact. Chromosome substitution strains (CSSs) enable statistically powerful studies based on testing engineered inbred strains that have single, unique, and nonoverlapping genetic differences, thereby providing measures of phenotypic effects that are attributable to individual chromosomes. Here, we report a study of phenotypic effects and gene interactions for 90 blood, bone, and metabolic traits in a mouse CSS panel and 54 traits in a rat CSS panel. Two key observations emerge about the genetic architecture of these traits. First, the traits t

SUBMITTER: Shao H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2604967 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature