A COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION STUDY FOR SELEC TING USEFUL FAMILIES FOR GENIC LINKAGE ANALYSIS - AN EXAMPLE OF PROBAND FAMILIES WITH OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER

In this paper we show the usefulness of the computer simulation analys is to select adequate families for performing linkage analysis and map ping genes. We analyzed eight families with obsessive-compulsive disor der. Clinically, these families seem to have an autosomal dominant pat tern of inheritance. We simulated a cosegregation of a polymorphic mar ker, with 50 % heterozygosity, along with the disease. Additionally, w e performed the analysis considering different values of penetrance an d three percentages of known genotypes in the studied subjects (100 %, 75 % and 50 %). The obtained led scores demonstrated that these famil ies have enough statistical power to detect linkage, even in non-ideal conditions such as 80 % penetrance and only 50 % known genotypes.