Genome Scan for Locus Involved in Mandibular Prognathism in Pedigrees from China

BACKGROUND It is well known that genetic components play an important role in the etiology of mandibular prognathism, but few susceptibility loci have been mapped. METHODOLOGY In order to identify linkage regions for mandibular prognathism, we analyzed two Chinese pedigrees with 6,090 genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers from Illumina Linkage-12 DNA Analysis Kit (average spacing 0.58 cM). Multipoint parametric and non-parametric (model-free) linkage analyses were used for the pedigrees. PRINCIPAL FINDING The most statistically significant linkage results were with markers on chromosome 4 (LOD=3.166 and NPL=3.65 with rs 875864, 4p16.1, 8.38 cM). Candidate genes within the 4p16.1 include EVC, EVC2. CONCLUSION We detected a novel suggestive linkage locus for mandibular prognathism in two Chinese pedigrees, and this linkage region provides target for susceptibility gene identification, a process that will provide important insights into the molecular and cellular basis of mandibular prognathism.