Genetics of gene expression surveyed in maize, mouse and man

Treating messenger RNA transcript abundances as quantitative traits and mapping gene expression quantitative trait loci for these traits has been pursued in gene-specific ways. Transcript abundances often serve as a surrogate for classical quantitative traits in that the levels of expression are sig...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 2003-03, Vol.422 (6929), p.297-302
Main Authors: Schadt, Eric E, Friend, Stephen H, Monks, Stephanie A, Drake, Thomas A, Lusis, Aldons J, Che, Nam, Colinayo, Veronica, Ruff, Thomas G, Milligan, Stephen B, Lamb, John R, Cavet, Guy, Linsley, Peter S, Mao, Mao, Stoughton, Roland B
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Biological and medical sciences
Chromosome Mapping
Chromosomes, Human, Pair 20 - genetics
Chromosomes, Mammalian - genetics
Classical genetics, quantitative genetics, hybrids
Crosses, Genetic
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Genes
Genetics
Genetics of eukaryotes. Biological and molecular evolution
Genomics - methods
Humans
Lod Score
Male
Methods, theories and miscellaneous
Mice - genetics
Mice, Inbred C57BL
Mice, Inbred DBA
Obesity - genetics
Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis
Pedigree
Polymorphism, Genetic - genetics
Quantitative Trait Loci - genetics
RNA, Messenger - genetics
RNA, Messenger - metabolism
Transcription, Genetic - genetics
Tumor Cells, Cultured
Zea mays - genetics
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Summary:Treating messenger RNA transcript abundances as quantitative traits and mapping gene expression quantitative trait loci for these traits has been pursued in gene-specific ways. Transcript abundances often serve as a surrogate for classical quantitative traits in that the levels of expression are significantly correlated with the classical traits across members of a segregating population. The correlation structure between transcript abundances and classical traits has been used to identify susceptibility loci for complex diseases such as diabetes and allergic asthma. One study recently completed the first comprehensive dissection of transcriptional regulation in budding yeast, giving a detailed glimpse of a genome-wide survey of the genetics of gene expression. Unlike classical quantitative traits, which often represent gross clinical measurements that may be far removed from the biological processes giving rise to them, the genetic linkages associated with transcript abundance affords a closer look at cellular biochemical processes. Here we describe comprehensive genetic screens of mouse, plant and human transcriptomes by considering gene expression values as quantitative traits. We identify a gene expression pattern strongly associated with obesity in a murine cross, and observe two distinct obesity subtypes. Furthermore, we find that these obesity subtypes are under the control of different loci.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/nature01434