Patent ID: 8170805

Claim:
A method of identifying a genetic marker associated with a trait of interest in a nested population of non-human organisms comprising: a) providing a genotypic value for each of a plurality of genetic markers for each member of said nested population, wherein said population comprises members exhibiting said trait of interest; b) providing a phenotypic value for said trait of interest for each member of said population; and c) determining whether one or more of said genetic markers is associated with the trait of interest using a nested association model comprising a combination of a single marker regression (SMR) model and a multiple marker regression (MMR) model, wherein: i) noninformative genotypes are removed prior to using the SMR model to evaluate an association between a trait value and a marker genotype; and ii) stepwise regression is used to select cofactor markers for inclusion in the MMR model, wherein a genetic marker is considered to be associated with the trait of interest if either the SMR model or the MMR model detects an association and wherein step (c) is performed on a suitably programmed computer.