Genetic dissection of complex and quantitative traits: from fantasy to reality via a community effort.

Threadgill, David W.; Hunter, Kent W.; Williams, Robert W.

This article focuses on a study related to genetic dissection of complex and quantitative traits. During the previous century, isogenic lines of mice became one of the major resources responsible for advancing biomedical and genetic research. Ken Paigen, director of the Jackson Laboratory, reawakened community interest in the extraordinary genetic resources and phenotypic diversity archived in extant inbred strains. Tracking down complex trait and QTL genes, gene variants that contribute to graded and usually subtle differences among humans and other organisms, is regarded as an exceptionally difficult, if not quixotic task.

GENETICS; LABORATORIES; GENES; MICE; MEDICAL research; SURGERY

Mammalian Genome, 2002, Vol 13, Issue 4, p175

0938-8990

Academic Journal

10.1007/s00335-001-4001-Y