Controlling for false positive findings of trans-hubs in expression quantitative trait loci mapping

In the fast-developing field of expression quantitative traits loci (eQTL) studies, much interest has been concentrated on detecting genomic regions containing transcriptional regulators that influence multiple expression phenotypes (trans-hubs). In this paper, we develop statistical methods for eQTL mapping and propose a new procedure for investigating candidate trans-hubs. We use data from the Genetic Analysis Workshop 15 to illustrate our methods. After correlations among expressions were accounted for, the previously detected trans-hubs are no longer significant. Our results suggest that conclusions regarding regulation hot spots should be treated with great caution.