Abstract
Let's face it--complex traits are just not that simple.
Highlights
‘‘...our methods provide the means of identifying the genes that affect facial shape and for modeling the effects of these genes to generate a predicted face.’’
Claes et al [1] base their analysis on a mixed ancestry sample of 592 people genotyped with a 540,000 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array
Could the amount of facial shape variation attributed to ancestry have accumulated through genetic drift? If not, what might explain the surprising contribution of ancestry to facial shape? These questions are intriguing and important regardless of the extent facial shape, or even facial shape characteristics, can be reliably predicted from DNA
Summary
‘‘...our methods provide the means of identifying the genes that affect facial shape and for modeling the effects of these genes to generate a predicted face.’’ (pg. 10). This promise greatly overreaches the data and analyses represented by the study, and it misrepresents our current understanding of the genetics of complex morphological traits. Could the amount of facial shape variation attributed to ancestry have accumulated through genetic drift?
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