The principles of QTL analysis (a minimal mathematics approach)

The combination of combination marker and trait data to explore the individual genes concerned with quantitative traits, QTL analysis, has become an important tool to allow biologists to dissect the genetics of complex characters. However, the mathematical and statistical techniques involved have deterred many from understanding what the methods achieved and appreciating their strengths and weaknesses.This paper is designed to give a non-mathematical explanation of the principles underlying these analyses, to discuss their potential and to provide an introduction to the techniques used in the subsequent papers in this series of articles based on the SEB symposium.Key words: Gene mapping, QTL analysis, quantitative genetics.