The omnigenic model of the
genetics of
complex trait
Complex traits, also known as quantitative traits, are traits that do not behave according to simple Mendelian inheritance laws. More specifically, their inheritance cannot be explained by the genetic segregation of a single gene. Such traits show ...
s posits that human
gene regulatory network
A gene (or genetic) regulatory network (GRN) is a collection of molecular regulators that interact with each other and with other substances in the cell to govern the gene expression levels of mRNA and proteins which, in turn, determine the fun ...
s are so interconnected that thousands of individual
genes contribute at least slightly to the
phenotype through
expression in relevant
cells
Cell most often refers to:
* Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life
Cell may also refer to:
Locations
* Monastic cell, a small room, hut, or cave in which a religious recluse lives, alternatively the small precursor of a monastery w ...
. Because it proposes that the
genetic architecture
Genetic architecture is the underlying genetic basis of a phenotypic trait and its variational properties. Phenotypic variation for quantitative traits is, at the most basic level, the result of the segregation of alleles at quantitative trait l ...
of complex traits is affected by a large number of genes, it is similar to the
infinitesimal model developed by
Ronald Fisher. It also incorporates the concept of "universal
pleiotropy
Pleiotropy (from Greek , 'more', and , 'way') occurs when one gene influences two or more seemingly unrelated phenotypic traits. Such a gene that exhibits multiple phenotypic expression is called a pleiotropic gene. Mutation in a pleiotropic g ...
", which states that genetic variation in one part of the genome can potentially have an indirect effect on any other trait. The model was first proposed by Boyle et al. in a 2017 paper in ''
Cell''. According to this model, a small number of "core genes" with biological relevance to a given trait, as well as their regulators and associated pathways, contribute to complex human traits. "Peripheral" genes are also said to far outnumber core genes for a trait, and to contribute to much more of its
heritability
Heritability is a statistic used in the fields of breeding and genetics that estimates the degree of ''variation'' in a phenotypic trait in a population that is due to genetic variation between individuals in that population. The concept of h ...
, despite being outside of the key pathways associated with the trait.
References
Statistical genetics
{{Genetics-stub