Estimating heritability of a trait from data containing siblings
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5.2 years ago
rednalf ▴ 90

Does it make sense to estimate the heritability of a trait from data containing siblings? Due to the presence of siblings, the estimate will be much higher in the sample, right?

SNP genome • 788 views
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I always thought that it makes sense to estimate heritability only from data containing related samples. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heritability#Estimating_heritability "Briefly, better estimates are obtained using data from individuals with widely varying levels of genetic relationship - such as twins, siblings, parents and offspring, rather than from more distantly related (and therefore less similar) subjects."

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5.2 years ago
Lemire ▴ 940

If you meant SNP heritability calculated from methods that estimates a genetic relationship matrix (GRM, such as calculated by, e.g., GCTA), then yes, including siblings will potentially drive up the estimates (unless you account for them, which is not the default). That's because the underlying assumption is that the GRM is calculated from a set of unrelated samples. Presumably, the sibs also show similar trait values. Combine this with higher GRM values compared to unrelated, and you have a recipe for inflated heritability.

If you meant SNP heritability calculated from summary statistics (e.g. LD score regression), then it all depends on whether or not the summary stats correctly accounted for the presence of sibs in your sample.

Finally if you meant kinship-based heritability (twin methods, variance components, etc), then the question doesn't make much sense.

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