Haplotype-Based Computational Genetic Analysis In Mice

A number of significant discoveries have resulted from genetic analysis of model experimental organisms. Improved methods for quantitative trait analysis, a process referred to as quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping, have enabled investigators to make genetic discoveries. This mapping method requires the experimental generation of intercross progeny derived from two selected parental strains, chosen because they differ in a trait of interest. Through correlative analysis of the measured phenotype and genotype at multiple positions in the genome for each intercross progeny, regions of the genome responsible for the differences in the trait are identified. The genomic regions that quantitatively contribute to the trait are referred to as QTL. QTL analysis has been successfully used to map important traits in crop plants, cattle, fruit flies, mice, and many other model organisms. The statistical basis for QTL mapping has been thoroughly investigated (reviewed in ref. 1). Based on this statistical underpinning, experimental crosses using model organisms can be designed to reliably detect QTLs, even when the involved regions make a relatively small contribution to the trait being studied.