Abstract
One standard approximation in quantitative genetics is the infinitesimal model, which assumes a large number of loci, each of small effect. In such a setting, the distribution of breeding values in unselected descendants is roughly multivariate normal and most of the (short-term) change in the additive variance under selection is through Bulmer effects (the generation of linkage disequilibrium) rather than by allele-frequency change. A variety of different infinitesimal models are found in the literature, and this chapter examines these different versions and the connections between them. It also examines the theory for moving beyond the infinitesimal approximation. Finally, this chapter shows that the much-debated worry over “missing heritability” simply follows under the infinitesimal setting.
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