Multipoint linkage analysis using the weighted-pairwise correlation statistic

The weighted pairwise correlation (WPC) approach provides simple and flexible non-parametric tests for genetic linkage which may be adapted to qualitative, quantitative or age-dependent traits. Although this statistic has often been used with identity-by-state (IBS) information, there is much to gain by using multipoint identity-by-descent (IBD) information. The purpose of this paper is to use the unified multipoint approach of Kruglyak et al. [1996] with the WPC statistic. We used the simulated data of a complex disease proposed in GAW11 (problem 2) to validate this approach and to compare the multipoint WPC to the IBS-WPC and to the multilocus approach using the conventional non-parametric statistics S(pairs) and S(all). The results suggest that the multipoint WPC may be the most powerful approach.