Using Lod Scores to Detect Sex Differences in Male-Female Recombination Fractions

Linkage analysis using sex-specific recombination fractions with GENEHUNTER-MODSCORE

MOTIVATION

Sex-specific marker maps have become increasingly available. We have implemented the usage of sex-specific recombination frequencies in the GENEHUNTER-MODSCORE program that performs multipoint linkage analysis. Furthermore, we have devised a consistent method to choose the combinations of male and female genetic positions at which linkage scores should be calculated. Marker coordinates can be read automatically from publicly available genetic maps.

RESULTS

In a MOD-score analysis of the COGA dataset provided for Genetic Analysis Workshop 14, the highest linkage peak on chromosome 1 further increases when using sex-specific maps, while some smaller peaks are decreased. Simulations confirm that the MOD score can be biased when a sex-averaged instead of the correct sex-specific map is employed. This shows that an adequate modeling of the female:male ratio of genetic distances is important, especially for complex traits.

AVAILABILITY

The new version of GENEHUNTER-MODSCORE can be downloaded from the following website: http://www.staff.uni-marburg.de/~strauchk/software.html

A simple method for detection of imprinting effects based on case-parents trios

Using data from families in which marker genotypes are known for the father, the mother and the affected offspring, a simple statistic for testing for imprinting effects is developed. The statistic considers whether the expected number of families in which the father carries more copies of a particular marker allele than the mother is equal to the expected number of families in which the mother carries more copies of the allele than the father. The proposed parent-of-origin effects test statistic (POET) is shown to be normally distributed and can be employed to test for imprinting in situations where the marker locus need not be a disease susceptibility locus and where the female and male recombination fractions are sex-specific. A simulation study is conducted to characterize the power of the POET and other properties, and its results show that it is appropriate to employ the POET.

A third-pass genome scan in panic disorder: evidence for multiple susceptibility loci

BACKGROUND

Panic disorder (PD) is a common illness with a definite but "complex" genetic contribution and estimated heritability of 30-46%.

METHODS

We report a genome scan in 120 multiplex PD pedigrees consisting of 1591 individuals of whom 992 were genotyped with 371 markers at an average spacing of 9cM. Parametric two-point, multipoint, and nonparametric analyses were performed using three PD models (Broad, Intermediate, Narrow) and allowing for homogeneity or heterogeneity. The two-point analyses were also performed allowing for independent male and female recombination fractions (theta). Genome-wide significance was empirically evaluated using simulations of this dataset.

RESULTS

Evidence for linkage reached genome-wide significance in one region on chromosome 15q (near GABA-A receptor subunit genes) and was suggestive at loci on 2p, 2q and 9p using an averaged theta. Analyses allowing for sex-specific theta's were consistent except that support at one locus on 2q increased to genome-wide significance and an additional region of suggestive linkage on 12q was identified. However, differences in male and female recombination fractions predicted by the sex-specific approach were not consistent with current physical maps.

CONCLUSIONS

These data provide evidence for chromosomal regions on 15q and 2q that may be important in genetic susceptibility to panic disorder. Although we are encouraged by the findings of analyses using sex-specific recombination fractions, we also note that further understanding of this analytic strategy will be important.

Effects of updating linkage evidence across subsets of data: reanalysis of the autism genetic resource exchange data set

Results of autism linkage studies have been difficult to interpret across research groups, prompting the use of ever-increasing sample sizes to increase power. However, increasing sample size by pooling disparate collections for a single analysis may, in fact, not increase power in the face of genetic heterogeneity. Here, we applied the posterior probability of linkage (PPL), a method designed specifically to analyze multiple heterogeneous data sets, to the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange collection of families by analyzing six clinically defined subsets of the data and updating the PPL sequentially over the subsets. Our results indicate a substantial probability of linkage to chromosome 1, which had been previously overlooked; our findings also provide a further characterization of the possible parent-of-origin effects at the 17q11 locus that were previously described in this sample. This analysis illustrates that the way in which heterogeneity is addressed in linkage analysis can dramatically affect the overall conclusions of a linkage study.