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Cited by 1,039Evolution and Genetic DynamicsGenetic and phenotypic traits in livestockGenetic Associations and Epidemiology

Data and Theory Point to Mainly Additive Genetic Variance for Complex Traits

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Hill, William G., Goddard, Michael E., Visscher, Peter M.·2008·PLoS Genetics
DOI 10.1371/journal.pgen.1000008PMC PMC2265475
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Abstract

The relative proportion of additive and non-additive variation for complex traits is important in evolutionary biology, medicine, and agriculture. We address a long-standing controversy and paradox about the contribution of non-additive genetic variation, namely that knowledge about biological pathways and gene networks imply that epistasis is important. Yet empirical data across a range of traits and species imply that most genetic variance is additive. We evaluate the evidence from empirical studies of genetic variance components and find that additive variance typically accounts for over half, and often close to 100%, of the total genetic variance. We present new theoretical results, based upon the distribution of allele frequencies under neutral and other population genetic models, that show why this is the case even if there are non-additive effects at the level of gene action. We conclude that interactions at the level of genes are not likely to generate much interaction at the level of variance.

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  • The remaining reduction in predictive power is due to factors including epistasis, gene-environment interactions, and differences between populations in gene-environment correlations, assortative mating, and environmental variance.

    “The remaining reduction in predictive power is due to factors including epistasis (although epistatic variance is likely small13,15), gene-environment interactions, and differences between populations in gene-environment correlations, assortative mating, and environmental variance.”

    From Polygenic prediction of educational attainment within and between families from genome-wide association analyses in 3 million individuals (2022) · cites this paper as [15]

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Authors
Hill, W. G., Goddard, M. E., & Visscher, P. M.
Affiliations
  • University of Edinburgh (GB)
  • The University of Melbourne (AU)
  • QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute (AU)
Corresponding author
Hill, William G.
ORCID
Venue
PLoS Genetics
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Published
2008-02-29
Volume
4
Issue
2
Pages
e1000008
ISSN
  • 1553-7390 (ISSN-L)
  • 1553-7404
DOI
10.1371/journal.pgen.1000008
PMC
PMC2265475
OpenAlex
W2072214908
Cited by
1,039
References
7
Citations by year
2026: 40 · 2025: 57 · 2024: 62 · 2023: 51 · 2022: 53 · 2021: 69 · 2020: 52 · 2019: 64 · 2018: 77 · 2017: 62 · 2016: 45 · 2015: 63 · 2014: 61 · 2013: 68 · 2012: 65
FWCI
4.68
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • PLoS Genetics (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Minerva Access (University of Melbourne) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Edinburgh Research Explorer (University of Edinburgh) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • Medical Research Council
  • Australian Research Council (DP0770096)
  • National Health and Medical Research Council (442915, DP0770096, 389892)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Evolution and Genetic Dynamics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic and phenotypic traits in livestock
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
Keywords
additive genetic variance, non-additive genetic variation, epistasis, complex traits, genetic variance components, allele frequency distribution, genetic interactions, population genetic models, genetic architecture
MeSH terms
Alleles, Animals, Animals, Domestic, Animals, Laboratory, Epistasis, Genetic, Gene Frequency, Genes, Dominant, Genetics, Population, Humans, Models, Genetic, Phenotype, Genetic Variation, Twin Studies as Topic, Quantitative Trait Loci

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