Data and Theory Point to Mainly Additive Genetic Variance for Complex Traits
Figure 1
Distribution of rMZ−2rDZ for all traits on human twins.
Data are from published papers by N.G. Martin and colleagues of the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Brisbane (www.genepi.edu.au). Across a wide variety of traits the mean difference between the monozygotic twin correlation and twice the dizygotic twin correlation is close to zero, which is consistent with predominantly additive genetic variance and the absence of a large component of variance due to common environmental effects.