Comparison of methods that use whole genome data to estimate the heritability and genetic architecture of complex traits.

ABSTRACT: Multiple methods have been developed to estimate narrow-sense heritability, h², using single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in unrelated individuals. However, a comprehensive evaluation of these methods has not yet been performed, leading to confusion and discrepancy in the literature. We present the most thorough and realistic comparison of these methods to date. We used thousands of real whole-genome sequences to simulate phenotypes under varying genetic architectures and confounding variables, and we used array, imputed, or whole genome sequence SNPs to obtain 'SNP-heritability' estimates. We show that SNP-heritability can be highly sensitive to assumptions about the frequencies, effect sizes, and levels of linkage disequilibrium of underlying causal variants, but that metho

SUBMITTER: Evans LM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5934350 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature