Merging microsatellite data: enhanced methodology and software to combine genotype data for linkage and association analysis

Background: Correctly merged data sets that have been independently genotyped can increase statistical power in linkage and association studies. However, alleles from microsatellite data sets genotyped with different experimental protocols or platforms cannot be accurately matched using base-pair size information alone. In a previous publication we introduced a statistical model for merging microsatellite data by matching allele frequencies between data sets. These methods are implemented in our software MicroMerge version 1 (v1). While MicroMerge v1 output can be analyzed by some genetic analysis programs, many programs can not analyze alignments that do not match alleles one-to-one between data sets. A consequence of such alignments is that codominant genotypes must often be analyzed as phenotypes. In this paper we describe several extensions that are implemented in MicroMerge version 2 (v2). Results: Notably, MicroMerge v2 includes a new one-to-one alignment option that creates mer...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2008
• Where: BMCBI
• Authors: Angela P. Presson, Eric M. Sobel, Paivi Pajukanta, Christopher Plaisier, Daniel E. Weeks, Karolina Åberg, Jeanette C. Papp
• Keywords: Allele, BMCBI 2008, Data Sets, Microsatellite Data