A comparison between methods for linkage disequilibrium fine mapping of quantitative trait loci.

We present a maximum likelihood method for mapping quantitative trait loci that uses linkage disequilibrium information from single and multiple markers. We made paired comparisons between analyses using a single marker, two markers and six markers. We also compared the method to single marker regression analysis under several scenarios using simulated data. In general, our method outperformed regression (smaller mean square error and confidence intervals of location estimate) for quantitative trait loci with dominance effects. In addition, the method provides estimates of the frequency and additive and dominance effects of the quantitative trait locus.