Contribution of large region joint associations to complex traits genetics.

ABSTRACT: A polygenic model of inheritance, whereby hundreds or thousands of weakly associated variants contribute to a trait's heritability, has been proposed to underlie the genetic architecture of complex traits. However, relatively few genetic variants have been positively identified so far and they collectively explain only a small fraction of the predicted heritability. We hypothesized that joint association of multiple weakly associated variants over large chromosomal regions contributes to complex traits variance. Confirmation of such regional associations can help identify new loci and lead to a better understanding of known ones. To test this hypothesis, we first characterized the ability of commonly used genetic association models to identify large region joint associations. Through theor

SUBMITTER: Pare G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4391841 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature