APPLICATION OF THE MAJOR GENE INDEX AND OFFSPRING-BETWEEN-PARENTS FUNCTION TO DERMATOGLYPHIC FINGERTIP VARIABLES

  • 1 January 1981
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 33  (3) , 432-442
Abstract
Digital dermatoglyphic variables (48) in 192 nuclear families were analyzed to search for major gene effects, utilizing recently developed statistics called the major gene index (MGI) and offspring-between-parents (OBP) function. They operate on the principle that under a multifactorial blending inheritance scheme an offspring''s phenotypic value approximates the midparental value, but under major gene inheritance, the child''s value more closely resembles that of one of his parents. Both statistics yielded comparable results. All ridge-count variables showed no strong deviation from a multifactorial model. Pattern-type variables gave values suggesting the presence of major gene effects, but they were probably caused by the variables'' relatively discrete distributions, since a departure of a variable from a reasonably continuous phenotypic distribution interfered significantly with the interpretation of both statistics.