(I don't know if this is really the right forum for this question, but haven't found a good answer elsewhere)
I was having a discussion with a colleague and this question came up...
It is common in molecular genetics studies to only genotype one of a pair of monozygotic twins (and then implicitly impute the other twin's genotype by assuming the pair is genetically identical).
My question is this: assuming a quantitative trait study, what should the phenotype be? Should it be the phenotype of the genotyped twin OR should it be an average of the two twins' phenotypes?
Example:
- I genotype Twin A
- Twin A has a phenotype score of 4
- Twin B has a phenotype score of 6
- Should Twin A's phenotype for the association study be 4 (the individual's phenotype) or 5 (the average phenotype of the genome, that is the average across the two genetically-identical twins)?
Answers from experience and from theory welcome!
Thanks!
Thanks - so you would effectively take one phenotype at random, rather than averaging?
Yes, but preferably using both (if it's possible to correct for relatedness in your study)