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From QTL to gene: the harvest begins

Nature Genetics volume 31, pages 235–236 (2002)Cite this article

In the past decade, quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping has identified hundreds of chromosomal regions containing genes affecting asthma, atherosclerosis, diabetes, hypertension, obesity and other complex phenotypes. The ultimate goal of QTL mapping is to identify the genes underlying these polygenic traits and to gain a better understanding of their physiology and biochemistry. But identifying the QTL genes has been slow and difficult. A commentary in Nature Genetics questioned the value of QTL mapping and proposed that mutagenesis strategies offer more promise for identifying the genes determining complex traits1. That pessimistic opinion was premature; we herein report that 29 QTL genes have been identified, almost half of them in 2001. We suggest that QTL mapping of complex traits is a promising technique and that the harvest of QTL genes is just beginning.

A total of only 8 genes were identified from 1991–1998, but 4 were identified in 1999, 7 in 2000 and 11 in 2001. This acceleration reflects the increasing availability of simple sequence length polymorphisms (SSLPs), which facilitated mapping; publication of the human and mouse genomic sequences, which eliminated the need to build contigs experimentally; and comparative genomics, which facilitated the identification of genes. The availability of microarray technology will probably accelerate QTL gene identification; already microarrays have been used to identify CD36 and C5 (Hc), genes underlying insulin resistance and asthma, respectively2,3.

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Figure 1: Number of genes identified from QTL by year.

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Acknowledgements

We thank G. Churchill for comments on this manuscript. This work was supported by the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's Programs for Genomic Applications. Although we searched the literature extensively, QTL mapping is performed in many different research areas, and we may not have found all the reports of identified genes. If we have omitted any genes cloned through mapping QTL, please notify us.

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  1. The Jackson Laboratory, 600 Main Street, Bar Harbor, 04609, Maine, USA

    Ron Korstanje & Beverly Paigen

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Correspondence to Beverly Paigen.

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Korstanje, R., Paigen, B. From QTL to gene: the harvest begins. Nat Genet 31, 235–236 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng0702-235

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