Regression-based quantitative trait loci mapping: robust, efficient and effective.

Regression has always been an important tool for quantitative geneticists. The use of maximum likelihood (ML) has been advocated for the detection of quantitative trait loci (QTL) through linkage with molecular markers, and this approach can be very effective. However, linear regression models have also been proposed which perform similarly to ML, while retaining the many beneficial features of regression and, hence, can be more tractable and versatile than ML in some circumstances. Here, the use of linear regression to detect QTL in structured outbred populations is reviewed and its perceived shortfalls are revisited. It is argued that the approach is valuable now and will remain so in the future.