Quantitative genetics is the assessment of variation due to genetic and environmental factors. It can be used to identify the sources of similarity between relatives.
Keywords: heritability; genetic model; environment; linkage; association; twins
Quantitative Genetics
Michael C Neale, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA
Published online: July 2006
DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0005408
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Figure 1. Deviations d and h shown as departures from population mean for genotypes AA, Aa and aa at a quantitative genetic locus. (Adapted from Mather and Jinks, (
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Figure 2. Number of alleles identical-by-descent in all possible pairs of siblings resulting from a mating between a mother with genotype AB and a father with genotype CD.
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Figure 3. Model for data from monozygotic (MZ) or dizygotic (DZ) twins reared together. Additive polygenic effects (A
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| References | |
| Eaves LJ (1983) Errors of inference in the detection of major gene effects on psychological test scores. American Journal of Human Genetics 35: 1211–1223. | |
| book Falconer DS (1990) Introduction to Quantitative Genetics, 3rd edn. New York, NY: Longman Group. | |
| Fisher RA (1918) The correlation between relatives on the supposition of Mendelian inheritance. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 52: 399–433. | |
| Fisher RA (1922) On the mathematical foundations of theoretical statistics. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series A 222: 309–368. | |
| Fulker DW, Cherny SS, Sham PC and Hewitt JK (1999) Combined linkage and association sib pair analysis for quantitative traits. American Journal of Human Genetics 64: 259–267. | |
| Heath AC and Eaves LJ (1985) Resolving the effects of phenotype and social background on mate selection. Behavior Genetics 15: 15–30. | |
| Martin NG, Eaves LJ, Kearsey MJ and Davies P (1978) The power of the classical twin study. Heredity 40: 97–116. | |
| book Mather K and Jinks JL (1971) Biometrical Genetics. London, UK: Chapman and Hall. | |
| book Mather K and Jinks JL (1977) Introduction to Biometrical Genetics. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. | |
| book Neale MC (1991) Mx: Statistical Modeling. Box 710 MCV, Richmond, VA: Department of Human Genetics. | |
| book Neale MC and Cardon LR (1992) Methodology for Genetic Studies of Twins and Families. Dordrecht, NL: Kluwer Academic Press. | |
| book Neale M, Boker S, Xie G and Maes H (1999) Mx: Statistical Modeling., 5th edn. Box 980126, Richmond, VA: Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University. | |
| book Sham P (1997) Statistics in Human Genetics. New York, NY: John Wiley and Sons. | |
| Spearman C (1964) General intelligence objectively determined and measured. American Journal of Psychology 15: 201293. | |
| Vogler GP (1982) Multivariate behavior genetic analyses of correlations vs. phenotypically standardized covariances. Behavior Genetics 12: 473–478. | |
| Wright S (1934) The method of path coefficients. Annals of Mathematical Statistics 5: 161–215. | |
| Further Reading | |
| Eaves LJ, Last K, Young PA and Martin NG (1978) Model fitting approaches to the analysis of human behavior. Heredity 41: 249–320. | |
| Eaves LJ, Neale MC and Maes HH (1996) Multivariate multipoint linkage analysis of quantitative trait loci. Behavior Genetics 26: 519–526. | |
| Fulker DW and Cherny SS (1996) An improved multipoint sib-pair analysis of quantitative traits. Behavior Genetics 26: 527–532. | |
| Jinks JL and Fulker DW (1970) Comparison of the biometrical genetical, MAVA, and classical approaches to the analysis of human behavior. Psychological Bulletin 73: 311–349. | |
| book Lynch M and Walsh B (1998) Genetics and Analysis of Quantitative Traits. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer. | |
| Maes HH, Neale MC, Martin NG, Heath AC and Eaves L (1999) Religious attendance and the frequency of alcohol use: same genes or same environments: a bivariate extended twin kinship model. Twin Research 2: 169–179. | |
| Martin N, Boomsma and Machin G (1997) A twin-pronged attack on complex traits. Nature Genetics 17: 387–391. | |
| book Ott J (1999) Analysis of Human Genetic Linkage. 3rd edn Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. | |
| book Plomin R, De Fries J, McClearn J and McGuffin P (2000) Behavioral Genetics. New York, NY: WH Freeman. | |
| book Rowe DC (1994) The Limits of Family Influence: Genes, Experience, and Behavior. New York, NY: Guilford Press. | |
| book Spector T, Snieder H and MacGregor A (eds.) (1999) Advances in Twin and Sib Pair Analysis. London, UK: Greenwich Medical Media. | |
