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A quantitative trait is a measurable phenotype that depends on the cumulative actions of many genes and the environment. These traits can vary among individuals, over a range, to produce a continuous distribution of phenotypes. Examples include height, weight and blood pressure.
Most polygenic risk score (PRS) methods focus only on individuals with distinct primary continental ancestry, without accommodating recently-admixed individuals. Here, the authors develop a novel penalized regression-based PRS method specifically designed for admixed individuals.
Genetic association studies with affinity proteomics face challenges when dealing with protein altering variants. Suhre et al. show that nanoparticle enrichment mass-spectrometry can distinguish between epitope effects and bona fide protein quantitative traits.
A paper in Nature Communications describes a framework for identifying seed traits in food crops that have health-promoting effects on the gut microbiome, with implications for crop improvement approaches.