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1 October 2015 A General Model of the Relationship between the Apportionment of Human Genetic Diversity and the Apportionment of Human Phenotypic Diversity
Michael D. Edge, Noah A. Rosenberg
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Abstract

Models that examine genetic differences between populations alongside a genotype—phenotype map can provide insight about phenotypic variation among groups. We generalize a simple model of a completely heritable, additive, selectively neutral quantitative trait to examine the relationship between single-locus genetic differentiation and phenotypic differentiation on quantitative traits. In agreement with similar efforts using different models, we show that the expected degree to which two groups differ on a neutral quantitative trait is not strongly affected by the number of genetic loci that influence the trait: neutral trait differences are expected to have a magnitude comparable to the genetic differences at a single neutral locus. We discuss this result with respect to population differences in disease phenotypes, arguing that although neutral genetic differences between populations can contribute to specific differences between populations in health outcomes, systematic patterns of difference that run in the same direction for many genetically independent health conditions are unlikely to be explained by neutral genetic differentiation.

© 2016 Wayne State University Press, Detroit, Michigan 48201
Michael D. Edge and Noah A. Rosenberg "A General Model of the Relationship between the Apportionment of Human Genetic Diversity and the Apportionment of Human Phenotypic Diversity," Human Biology 87(4), 313-337, (1 October 2015). https://doi.org/10.13110/humanbiology.87.4.0313
Received: 26 February 2016; Accepted: 13 April 2016; Published: 1 October 2015
KEYWORDS
genetic differentiation
health disparities
population genetics
QUANTITATIVE GENETICS
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