Summary of analyses of problem 2 simulated data for GAW11

The simulated data for Problem 2 of the 11th Genetic Analysis Workshop (GAW11) consisted of family linkage data and disease data from three populations, each population with different genetic parameters. The disease was simulated such that there were two genetically distinct diseases, one caused by a single locus with three alleles and the other by two epistatically interacting loci. The two diseases were clinically identical. Each of the diseases had a severe and mild form. One of the diseases was influenced by an environmental factor and one by an allele at one of the marker loci (association). Linkage data consisted of 300 polymorphic markers. Investigators analyzed these data in a myriad of ways, using most currently available linkage techniques and association analysis methods. In addition, investigators also tested newly developed methods, some of which took advantage of the existence of the environmental component. Other types of analyses included meta-analyses, methods of combining data from different studies, questions of replication, how much information is available in a single data set, and analyses for gene x gene and gene x environment interaction.