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Article: Gene Discovery
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- Genetics
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Gene Discovery
Gene discovery is the process of identifying genes that contribute to the development of a trait or
phenotype
. Researchers often try to discover the genes that are involved in specific diseases. They also try to find the genes that contribute to many other traits.
Gene discovery begins with clearly defining a trait of interest and determining if that trait has a genetic and/or environmental basis. This is done using several approaches, such as sibling recurrence risk ratio, familial aggregation, and twin and adoption studies. The sibling recurrence risk ratio is the frequency of a disease among the relatives of an affected person, divided by the frequency of the ...