An entropy-based index for fine-scale mapping of QTL.

By comparing the entropy and conditional entropy in a marker, an entropy-based index for fine-scale linkage-disequilibrium gene mapping is presented using high-density marker maps in extreme samples for quantitative trait. The entropy-based index is the function of LD between the marker and the trait locus and does not depend on marker allele frequencies across the loci. It is parallel to Hardy-Weinberg disequilibrium (HWD) measure for QTL fine mapping, but its power of fine mapping QTL is higher than that of HWD measure. Through simulations, the fine mapping performance of this entropy-based index is investigated extensively under various genetic parameters. The results show that the indices presented here are both robust and powerful.