University of Southern California

 

 

Genetic mapping studies in humans and model organisms have shown 'missing heritability' for many traits. Identifying the sources of missing heritability in these studies is critical if we are to effectively use personalized genome sequencing to predict and treat heritable diseases. A plausible source of missing heritability is genetic interactions involving three or more genes. These higher-order genetic interactions are difficult to detect using conventional genetic mapping techniques and therefore represent a potential source of false negatives in most genetic studies. Some of our main goals at this time are to assess the role of higher-order genetic interactions in heritable phenotypic variation, and to determine the molecular and systems level mechanisms that give rise to these complex genetic effects. I will describe the current state of our research on this problem, which has been conducted in the budding yeast model system.