Innovative Statistical Method Detects Parent-of-Origin Effects in Genes Without Parental Data

Recent advancements in genetics have introduced a groundbreaking statistical approach that enables scientists to identify parent-of-origin effects (POEs) in genes, even when parental genetic data is unavailable. POEs describe situations where the impact of a gene variant depends on whether it is inherited from the mother or the father, influencing traits and disease risks such as metabolic conditions and growth-related characteristics.

Traditionally, studying POEs required comprehensive genetic information from both parents, limiting research scope. However, a new methodology leverages genomic data from relatives, interchromosomal phasing, mitochondrial information, and sex-dependent traits to infer the parental origin of gene alleles. This approach has proven effective, recognizing over 30 POEs across 59 complex traits in a large cohort of nearly 237,000 individuals, including data from the UK Biobank, Estonian Biobank, and Norwegian cohort.

Notably, over a third of these POEs exhibited bipolar effects, where maternal and paternal alleles have opposing influences on traits like diabetes risk and triglyceride levels. Such findings support the parental conflict hypothesis, which suggests that maternal and paternal genes compete over resource allocation to optimize offspring survival.

This innovation opens new avenues for understanding genetic influences on complex diseases and traits, expanding beyond the limitations of previous methods. Researchers believe incorporating POEs into genetic studies can deepen insights into molecular mechanisms behind health-related traits and gene regulation, enhancing personalized medicine strategies.

For more details, visit the source: ScienceX.