Test for linkage and association in general pedigrees: the pedigree disequilibrium test

摘要

The present invention provides a method for the analysis of linkage disequilibrium between at least one marker locus and a disease or trait locus of interest. The method comprises the steps of: (a) providing a data set comprising a marker locus with at least two alleles for a plurality of extended pedigrees (e.g., plant pedigrees, animal pedigrees), where N is the number of unrelated extended pedigrees, at least one of said extended pedigrees containing at least one informative nuclear family or informative discordant sibship; then (b) determining a random variable X_T for each triad within an informative nuclear family for each allele M_i; (c) determining a random variable X_S for each DSP within an informative discordant sibship for each allele M₁; (d) determining a summary random variable D from X_S and X_T for each of said extended pedigrees for each allele M₁; and then (e) determining a statistic T from each of said summary random variables D from each of said N unrelated extended pedigrees for each allele M_i. An extreme (large or small) value for T indicates greater linkage disequilibrium.