A GWAS Model on the Interaction of Functional-Valued Traits

• Activity Number: 651
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Thursday, August 13, 2015 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Biometrics Section
• Author(s): Han Hao* and Rongling Wu
• Companies: and Penn State
• Keywords: GWAS ; functional traits ; interaction ; Lotka-Volterra model ; generalized profiling approach

Abstract

Interactions are common and important phenomena in most lifeforms. Here a general methodology framework is constructed for a genome-wide association study on two interacting functional-valued traits. A generalized Lotka-Volterra differential equation system is used to model the interaction, with flexible parameters accounting for different interaction types and intensities. A generalized profiling approach is used in parameter estimation in the differential equation system to reduce computation cost. Likelihood ratio tests are performed to study the association of genetic variants and the interaction. Both simulation studies and real data analysis are performed to validate the method.