At Last, Making Sense of Complex Traits

Yann Klimentidis comments on his blog about a recent paper in the Journal of Human Genetics, saying that researchers seem to be getting closer to being able to predict complex traits, such as hair color, from genes. The online early article from Anna Wojas-Pelc's group describes an association study that searched for polymorphisms in the SLC45A2 gene associated with hair color. "Understanding the genetic basis of these traits will provide some guiding principles for uncovering the genetic basis of more 'complex' complex traits, as well as about the evolutionary genetic process, population histories, and interactions with environmental factors," Klimentidis writes.