X-linkage in bipolar affective illness. Perspectives on genetic heterogeneity, pedigree analysis and the X-chromosome...

The search for genetic markers is a powerful strategy in psychiatric genetics. The present article examines four areas relevant to discrepancies among X-linkage studies in bipolar affective disorder. These are questions of ascertainment, analytic methods, the X-chromosome map and genetic heterogeneity. The following conclusions are reached: (a) Positive linkage findings cannot be attributed to ascertainment bias or association between affective illness and colorblindness. (b) The possibility that falsely positive linkage results were obtained by using inappropriate analytic methods is ruled out. (c) Reported linkages of bipolar illness to colorblind and G6PD loci are compatible with known map distances between X-chromosome loci. Linkage to the Xg antigen remains uncertain. (d) The discrepancy among the various data sets on affective illness and colorblindness is best explained by significant linkage heterogeneity among pedigrees informative for the two traits.