EVIDENCE FOR POLYGENIC EPISTATIC INTERACTIONS IN MAN?

A. C. Heath 1, N. G. Martin 1, L. J. Eaves 1, and D. Loesch 1

1 Department of Human Genetics, Medical College of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia 23298

Studies of multifactorial inheritance in man have ignored nonadditive gene action or attributed it entirely to dominance. Reanalyses of dermatoglyphic data on monozygotic and dizygotic twins, siblings and parents and offspring suggest that a substantial proportion of variation in total finger pattern intensity is due to epistatic interactions between additive genetic deviations, not dominance. Bootstrapping and power simulations support this interpretation of the data. We believe this is the strongest evidence so far for polygenic epistasis in man.

Submitted on October 18, 1983
Accepted on December 13, 1983