Combined linkage disequilibrium and linkage mapping: Bayesian multilocus approach

Quantitative trait loci (QTL) affecting the phenotype of interest can be detected using linkage analysis (LA), linkage disequilibrium (LD) mapping or a combination of both (LDLA). The LA approach uses information from recombination events within the observed pedigree and LD mapping from the historical recombinations within the unobserved pedigree. We propose the Bayesian variable selection approach for combined LDLA analysis for single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data. The novel approach uses both sources of information simultaneously as is commonly done in plant and animal genetics, but it makes fewer assumptions about population demography than previous LDLA methods. This differs from approaches in human genetics, where LDLA methods use LA information conditional on LD information or the other way round. We argue that the multilocus LDLA model is more powerful for the detection of phenotype-genotype associations than single-locus LDLA analysis. To illustrate the performance of the Bayesian multilocus LDLA method, we analyzed simulation replicates based on real SNP genotype data from small three-generational CEPH families and compared the results with commonly used quantitative transmission disequilibrium test (QTDT). This paper is intended to be conceptual in the sense that it is not meant to be a practical method for analyzing high-density SNP data, which is more common. Our aim was to test whether this approach can function in principle.