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Epistasis and quantitative traits: using model organisms to study gene–gene interactions

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Mackay, Trudy F. C.·2014·Nature Reviews Genetics

Abstract

The role of epistasis in the genetic architecture of quantitative traits is controversial, despite the biological plausibility that nonlinear molecular interactions underpin the genotype–phenotype map. This controversy arises because most genetic variation for quantitative traits is additive. However, additive variance is consistent with pervasive epistasis. In this Review, I discuss experimental designs to detect the contribution of epistasis to quantitative trait phenotypes in model organisms. These studies indicate that epistasis is common, and that additivity can be an emergent property of underlying genetic interaction networks. Epistasis causes hidden quantitative genetic variation in natural populations and could be responsible for the small additive effects, missing heritability and the lack of replication that are typically observed for human complex traits.

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Metadata

Authors
Mackay, T. F. C.
Venue
Nature Reviews Genetics
Published
2013-12-03
Volume
15
Issue
1
Pages
22-33
ISSN
  • 1471-0056 (ISSN-L)
  • 1471-0064
OpenAlex
W2126015874
Cited by
833
References
110
FWCI
7.09
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
green

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Mackay, T. F. C. (2014). Epistasis and quantitative traits: using model organisms to study gene–gene interactions. Nature Reviews Genetics. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg3627

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Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.