Modeling expression quantitative trait loci in data combining ethnic populations

Background: Combining data from different ethnic populations in a study can increase efficacy of methods designed to identify expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) compared to analyzing each population independently. In such studies, however, the genetic diversity of minor allele frequencies among populations has rarely been taken into account. Due to the fact that allele frequency diversity and population-level expression differences are present in populations, a consensus regarding the optimal statistical approach for analysis of eQTL in data combining different populations remains inconclusive. Results: In this report, we explored the applicability of a constrained two-way model to identify eQTL for combined ethnic data that might contain genetic diversity among ethnic populations. In addition, gene expression differences resulted from ethnic allele frequency diversity between populations were directly estimated and analyzed by the constrained two-way model. Through simulation,...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2010
• Where: BMCBI
• Authors: Ching-Lin Hsiao, Ie-Bin Lian, Ai-Ru Hsieh, Cathy S. J. Fann
• Keywords: BMCBI 2010, Constrained Two-way Model, Gene Expression, Genetic Diversity