Genome-wide Two-marker linkage disequilibrium mapping of quantitative trait loci

Background In a natural population, the alleles of multiple tightly linked loci on the same chromosome co-segregate and are passed non-randomly from generation to generation. Capitalizing on this phenomenon, a group of mapping methods, commonly referred to as the linkage disequilibrium-based mapping (LD mapping), have been developed recently for detecting genetic associations. However, most current LD mapping methods mainly employed single-marker analysis, overlooking the rich information contained within adjacent linked loci.