BAYESIAN AND RESIDUAL MAXIMUM-LIKELIHOOD STATISTICAL GENE-MAPPING

Residual Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian methods for statistical gene mapping in livestock were derived and applied to simulated half-sib de signs. REML was robust to the number of QTL alleles, and Bayesian anal ysis permitted to fit different QTL models. Single QTLs explaining at least 12.5% of additive genetic variance were detected with power of . 5 or higher. Two linked QTLs were detected when 20cM (40cM) apart and jointly accounting for 50% (25%) of additive genetic variance.