A note on the power provided by sibships of sizes 2, 3, and 4 in genetic covariance modeling of a codominant QTL

The contribution of size 3 and size 4 sibships to power in covariance structure modeling of a codominant QTL is investigated. Power calculations are based on the noncentral chi-square distribution. Sixteen sets of parameter values are considered. Results indicate that size 3 and size 4 sibships provided large increases in power over size 2 sibships. On average a size 3 (4) sibship is 3 (6 to 7) times as informative as a size 2 sibship. The increase in power does not depend on the specific effects sizes of the independent variables in the model. These findings extend results presented by Fulker and Cherny (1996) and Schork (1993). We consider the informativeness of the size 2, 3, and 4 sibships, which differ in the unique configuration of IBD sharing. Three of the 10 size 3 and 7 of the 36 size 4 sibships are particularly informative. The results presented concern random (unselective) sampling but do have implications for selective sampling.