Nat Rev Genet. 2008 Apr;9(4):255-66. Epub 2008 Mar 4.

Heritability in the genomics era--concepts and misconceptions.

Source

Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Royal Brisbane Hospital Post Office, Brisbane 4029, Queensland, Australia. Peter.Visscher@qimr.edu.au

Abstract

Heritability allows a comparison of the relative importance of genes and environment to the variation of traits within and across populations. The concept of heritability and its definition as an estimable, dimensionless population parameter was introduced by Sewall Wright and Ronald Fisher nearly a century ago. Despite continuous misunderstandings and controversies over its use and application, heritability remains key to the response to selection in evolutionary biology and agriculture, and to the prediction of disease risk in medicine. Recent reports of substantial heritability for gene expression and new estimation methods using marker data highlight the relevance of heritability in the genomics era.

PMID:: 18319743; [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Publication Types, MeSH Terms

Publication Types

MeSH Terms

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Other Literature Sources

Supplemental Content

Related citations

A test of quantitative genetic theory using Drosophila- effects of inbreeding and rate of inbreeding on heritabilities and variance components. [J Evol Biol. 2005]
A test of quantitative genetic theory using Drosophila- effects of inbreeding and rate of inbreeding on heritabilities and variance components.
Kristensen TN, Sørensen AC, Sorensen D, Pedersen KS, Sørensen JG, Loeschcke V. J Evol Biol. 2005 Jul; 18(4):763-70.
An exact form of the breeder's equation for the evolution of a quantitative trait under natural selection. [Evolution. 2005]
An exact form of the breeder's equation for the evolution of a quantitative trait under natural selection.
Heywood JS. Evolution. 2005 Nov; 59(11):2287-98.
Bayesian mapping of genotype x expression interactions in quantitative and qualitative traits. [Heredity (Edinb). 2006]
Bayesian mapping of genotype x expression interactions in quantitative and qualitative traits.
Hoti F, Sillanpää MJ. Heredity (Edinb). 2006 Jul; 97(1):4-18. Epub 2006 May 3.
Review Up hill, down dale: quantitative genetics of curvaceous traits. [Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2005]
Review Up hill, down dale: quantitative genetics of curvaceous traits.
Meyer K, Kirkpatrick M. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2005 Jul 29; 360(1459):1443-55.
Review How to use molecular marker data to measure evolutionary parameters in wild populations. [Mol Ecol. 2005]
Review How to use molecular marker data to measure evolutionary parameters in wild populations.
Garant D, Kruuk LE. Mol Ecol. 2005 Jun; 14(7):1843-59.

See reviews... See all...

Cited by 46 PubMed Central articles

An assessment of the individual and collective effects of variants on height using twins and a developmentally informative study design. [PLoS Genet. 2011]
An assessment of the individual and collective effects of variants on height using twins and a developmentally informative study design.
Vrieze SI, McGue M, Miller MB, Legrand LN, Schork NJ, Iacono WG. PLoS Genet. 2011 Dec; 7(12):e1002413. Epub 2011 Dec 8.
Impact of changing drug treatment and malaria endemicity on the heritability of malaria phenotypes in a longitudinal family-based cohort study. [PLoS One. 2011]
Impact of changing drug treatment and malaria endemicity on the heritability of malaria phenotypes in a longitudinal family-based cohort study.
Loucoubar C, Goncalves B, Tall A, Sokhna C, Trape JF, Diène Sarr F, Faye J, Badiane A, Ly AB, Diop A, et al. PLoS One. 2011; 6(11):e26364. Epub 2011 Nov 3.
A strong case for viral genetic factors in HIV virulence. [Viruses. 2011]
A strong case for viral genetic factors in HIV virulence.
Müller V, Fraser C, Herbeck JT. Viruses. 2011 Mar; 3(3):204-16. Epub 2011 Mar 8.

See all...

Related information

Related Citations
Calculated set of PubMed citations closely related to the selected article(s) retrieved using a word weight algorithm. Related articles are displayed in ranked order from most to least relevant, with the “linked from” citation displayed first.
Cited in PMC
Full-text articles in the PubMed Central Database that cite the current articles.

Recent activity

Clear Turn Off Turn On

Heritability in the genomics era--concepts and misconceptions.
Heritability in the genomics era--concepts and misconceptions.
Nat Rev Genet. 2008 Apr ;9(4):255-66. Epub 2008 Mar 4 .

PubMed
Conducting a user-centered information needs assessment: the Via Christi Librari...
Conducting a user-centered information needs assessment: the Via Christi Libraries' experience
J Med Libr Assoc. 2007 Apr; 95(2): 173-e55.

PMC
A BTB/POZ protein, NAC-1, is related to tumor recurrence and is essential for tu...
A BTB/POZ protein, NAC-1, is related to tumor recurrence and is essential for tumor growth and survival.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 Dec 5 ;103(49):18739-44. Epub 2006 Nov 27 .

PubMed
The POZ/BTB protein NAC1 interacts with two different histone deacetylases in ne...
The POZ/BTB protein NAC1 interacts with two different histone deacetylases in neuronal-like cultures.
J Neurochem. 2005 Aug ;94(3):786-93.

PubMed
Expression of the bric-a-brac tramtrack broad complex protein NAC-1 in cervical ...
Expression of the bric-a-brac tramtrack broad complex protein NAC-1 in cervical carcinomas seems to correlate with poorer prognosis.
Clin Cancer Res. 2008 Mar 15 ;14(6):1686-91.

PubMed

Your browsing activity is empty.

Activity recording is turned off.

Turn recording back on

PubMed

Display Settings:

Send to: