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E Warwick Daw

Publications and source records attributed to E Warwick Daw.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Single-nucleotide polymorphism versus microsatellite markers in a combined linkage and segregation analysis of a quantitative trait.

Increasingly, single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers are being used in preference to microsatellite markers. However, methods developed for microsatellites may be problematic when applied to SNP markers. We evaluated the results of using SNPs vs. microsatellites in Monte Carlo Markov chain (MCMC) oligogenic combined segregation and linkage analysis methods. These methods were developed with microsatellite markers in mind. We selected chromosome 7 from the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism dataset for analysis because linkage to an electrophysiological trait had been reported there. We found linkage in the same region of chromosome 7 with the Affymetrix SNP data, the Illumina SNP data, and the microsatellite marker data. The MCMC sampler appears to mix with both types of data. The sampler implemented in this MCMC oligogenic combined segregation and linkage analysis appears to handle SNP data as well as microsatellite data and it is possible that the localizations with the SNP data are better.

Chromosome Mapping↗
PubMed2005

APOE and other loci affect age-at-onset in Alzheimer's disease families with PS2 mutation.

Several kindreds of Volga German (VG) ancestry have a single PS2 mutation that causes an autosomal dominant form of Alzheimer's disease (AD). These families show a wide range in age-at-onset, which suggests the existence of modifying factors other than the PS2 mutation. To examine evidence for a genetic basis of variation in onset age, we performed a Bayesian oligogenic segregation and linkage analysis on nine VG families confirmed to have at least one affected PS2 carrier. This analysis simultaneously estimated the effects of APOE and PS2 and the number and effects of additional loci affecting AD age-at-onset. In addition, a family effect accounted for shared environmental effects. This analysis approach has the advantage of full use of the complete pedigree structure, as well as use of information on unsampled individuals with phenotypic data. These analyses provide evidence that APOE plays a small, but significant, role in modifying the age-at-onset in these VG families. The effects estimated for the APOE epsilon3 and epsilon4 genotypes were consistent with those estimated in previous analysis of late-onset AD families, with evidence for a dose-dependent relationship between number of epsilon4 alleles and age-at-onset. We estimated an approximately 83% posterior probability of at least one modifier locus in addition to APOE, and that the fraction of the variance in age-at-onset attributable to PS2, APOE, other loci, and family effects is approximately 70, approximately 2, approximately 6.5, and approximately 8.5%, respectively. These results provide evidence that APOE and other loci modify onset in AD caused by PS2 mutation.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Linkage mapping methods applied to the COGA data set: presentation Group 4 of Genetic Analysis Workshop 14.

Presentation Group 4 participants analyzed the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism data provided for Genetic Analysis Workshop 14. This group examined various aspects of linkage analysis and related issues. Seven papers included linkage analyses, while the eighth calculated identity-by-descent (IBD) probabilities. Six papers analyzed linkage to an alcoholism phenotype: ALDX1 (four papers), ALDX2 (one paper), or a combination both (one paper). Methods used included Bayesian variable selection coupled with Haseman-Elston regression, recursive partitioning to identify phenotype and covariate groupings that interact with evidence for linkage, nonparametric linkage regression modeling, affected sib-pair linkage analysis with discordant sib-pair controls, simulation-based homozygosity mapping in a single pedigree, and application of a propensity score to collapse covariates in a general conditional logistic model. Alcoholism linkage was found with > or =2 of these approaches on chromosomes 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 14, and 21. The remaining linkage paper compared the utility of several single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and microsatellite marker maps for Monte Carlo Markov chain combined oligogenic segregation and linkage analysis, and analyzed one of the electrophysiological endophenotypes, ttth1, on chromosome 7. Linkage was found with all marker sets. The last paper compared the multipoint IBD information content of several SNP sets and the microsatellite set, and found that while all SNP sets examined contained more information than the microsatellite set, most of the information contained in the SNP sets was captured by a subset of the SNP markers with approximately 1-cM marker spacing. From these papers, we highlight three points: a 1-cM SNP map seems to capture most of the linkage information, so denser maps do not appear necessary; careful and appropriate use of covariates can aid linkage analysis; and sources of increased gene-sharing between relatives should be accounted for in analyses.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed2004

Evidence for a novel late-onset Alzheimer disease locus on chromosome 19p13.2.

Late-onset familial Alzheimer disease (LOFAD) is a genetically heterogeneous and complex disease for which only one locus, APOE, has been definitively identified. Difficulties in identifying additional loci are likely to stem from inadequate linkage analysis methods. Nonparametric methods suffer from low power because of limited use of the data, and traditional parametric methods suffer from limitations in the complexity of the genetic model that can be feasibly used in analysis. Alternative methods that have recently been developed include Bayesian Markov chain-Monte Carlo methods. These methods allow multipoint linkage analysis under oligogenic trait models in pedigrees of arbitrary size; at the same time, they allow for inclusion of covariates in the analysis. We applied this approach to an analysis of LOFAD on five chromosomes with previous reports of linkage. We identified strong evidence of a second LOFAD gene on chromosome 19p13.2, which is distinct from APOE on 19q. We also obtained weak evidence of linkage to chromosome 10 at the same location as a previous report of linkage but found no evidence for linkage of LOFAD age-at-onset loci to chromosomes 9, 12, or 21.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Genetic Analysis Workshop 13: simulated longitudinal data on families for a system of oligogenic traits.

The Genetic Analysis Workshop 13 simulated data aimed to mimic the major features of the real Framingham Heart Study data that formed Problem 1, but under a known inheritance model and with 100 replicates, so as to allow evaluation of the statistical properties of various methods. The pedigrees used were the 330 real pedigree structures (comprising 4692 individuals) with some minor changes to protect confidentiality. Fifty trait genes and 399 microsatellite markers were simulated by gene dropping on 22 autosomal chromosomes. Assuming random ascertainment of families, a system of eight longitudinal quantitative traits (designed to be similar to those in the real data) was generated with a wide range of heritabilities, including some pleiotropic and interactive effects. Genes could affect either the baseline level or the rate of change of the phenotype. Hypertension diagnosis and treatment were simulated with treatment availability, compliance, and efficacy depending on calendar year. Nongenetic traits of smoking and alcohol were generated as covariates for other traits. Death was simulated as a hazard rate depending upon age, sex, smoking, cholesterol, and systolic blood pressure. After the complete data were simulated, missing data indicators were generated based on logistic models fitted to the real data, involving the subject's history of previous missing values, together with that of their spouses, parents, siblings, and offspring, as well as marital status, only-child indicators, current value at certain simulated traits, and the data collection pattern on the cohort into which each subject was ascertained.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Age-of-onset of hypertension vs. a single measurement of systolic blood pressure in a combined linkage and segregation analysis.

BACKGROUND: Often, multiple measures of a trait are available in a genetic linkage analysis. We compare Monte Carlo Markov chain analysis of two very different measures of hypertension in the simulated Genetic Analysis Workshop 13 data to examine how choice of measure affects the results. The measures selected were age-of-onset of hypertension and systolic blood pressure at first visit. RESULTS: In combined segregation and linkage analysis of the complete pedigrees using the first replicate of the simulated data with missing values, we found that the age-of-onset analysis was better at identifying "slope" genes, while the systolic blood pressure analysis was better at identifying "baseline" genes. CONCLUSION: Analysis of different trait measures may identify different trait-related genes. When linkage analysis is conducted on multiple trait measures, a linkage signal found for only one measure can represent a true trait locus.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

A score for Bayesian genome screening.

Bayesian Monte Carlo Markov chain (MCMC) techniques have shown promise in dissecting complex genetic traits. The methods introduced by Heath ([1997], Am. J. Hum. Genet. 61:748-760), and implemented in the program Loki, have been able to localize genes for complex traits in both real and simulated data sets. Loki estimates the posterior probability of quantitative trait loci (QTL) at locations on a chromosome in an iterative MCMC process. Unfortunately, interpretation of the results and assessment of their significance have been difficult. Here, we introduce a score, the log of the posterior placement probability ratio (LOP), for assessing oligogenic QTL detection and localization. The LOP is the log of the posterior probability of linkage to the real chromosome divided by the posterior probability of linkage to an unlinked pseudochromosome, with marker informativeness similar to the marker data on the real chromosome. Since the LOP cannot be calculated exactly, we estimate it in simultaneous MCMC on both real and pseudochromosomes. We investigate empirically the distributional properties of the LOP in the presence and absence of trait genes. The LOP is not subject to trait model misspecification in the way a lod score may be, and we show that the LOP can detect linkage for loci of small effect when the lod score cannot. We show how, in the absence of linkage, an empirical distribution of the LOP may be estimated by simulation and used to provide an assessment of linkage detection significance.

Bayes Theorem↗