Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Models of Heritability and Genetic Transmission

  • Conference paper
Search for the Causes of Schizophrenia

Abstract

Debates concerning models of transmission of schizophrenia often degenerate into muddles. This can sometimes be the fault of statistical experts who become so engrossed in mathematical complexity that they fail to see the wood for the trees. But probably it is more often the fault of clinical researchers who declare an abhorrence of the statistical subtleties and a preference for simple, single gene theories. The frequent result is a Procrustean bed into which the schizophrenia phenotype is placed and either stretched or trimmed to fit. All of this is very perplexing to the onlooking clinician, who is likely to sympathise with the clinical researchers’ aversion to algebra but is alarmed at the potential violence to cherished clinical concepts.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 74.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • American Psychiatric Association (1980) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 3rd edn (DSM-III). American Psychiatric Association, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  • Basset AS, Jones BD, McGillivray BC, Pantzar JT (1988) Partial trisomy chromosome 5 cosegregting with schizophrenia. Lancet i:799–800

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bleuler E (1950) Dementia praecox or the group of schizophrenias. International Universities Press, New York (original publication 1911)

    Google Scholar 

  • Carter CL, Chung CS (1980) Segregation analysis of schizophrenia under a mixed model. Hum Hered 30:350–356

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Crow TJ (1980) The molecular pathology of schizophrenia: more than one disease process? Br Med J 280:66–68

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Donis-Keller H, Green P, Helms C et al. (1987) A genetic linkage map of the human genome. Cell 51:319–337

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Edwards AWF (1972) Likelihood. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Edwards JH (1960) The simulation of Mendelism. Acta Genet 10:63

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Edwards JH (1965) Association between blood groups and disease. Ann Hum Genet 29:77–83

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elston RC, Campbell MA (1970) Schizophrenia: evidence for a major gene hypothesis. Behav Genet 1:101–106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elston RC, Yelverton KC (1975) General models for segregation analysis. Am J Hum Genet 27:31–45

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Erlenmayer-Kimling L (1979) Advantages of a behaviour-genetic approach to investigating stress in depressive disorders. In: Depue RA (ed) The psychobiology of the depressive disorders. Implications for the effects of stress. Academic, London, pp 391–407

    Google Scholar 

  • Falconer DS (1965) The inheritance of liability to certain diseases estimated from the incidence among relatives. Ann Hum Genet 29:51–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Falconer DS (1981) Introduction to quantitative genetics, 2nd edn. Longman, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Farmer AE, McGuffin P, Gottesmann II (1984) Searching for the split in schizophrenia: a twin study perspective. Psychiatry Res 13:109–118

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Farmer AE, McGuffin P, Gottesman II (1987) Twin concordance for DSM-III schizophrenia: scrutinising the validity of the definition. Arch Gen Psychiatry 44:634–641

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg EM, Morrison SL (1963) Schizophrenia and social class. Br J Psychiatry 109:785–802

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gottesman II (1987) The borderlands of psychosis, or the fringes of lunacy. Br Med Bull 43:557–569

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gottesman II, Shields J (1967) A polygenic theory of schizophrenia. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 58:199–205

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gottesman II, Shields J (1982) Schizophrenia: the epigenetic puzzle. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawking (1988) A brief history of time. Bantam, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Heston LL (1970) The genetics of schizophrenia and schizoid disease. Science 167:249–256

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • James J (1971) Frequency in relatives for an all-or-none trait. Ann Hum Genet 35:47–49

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Johnstone EC, Crow TJ, Johnstone AL, McMillan AF (1986) The Northwick Park study of first episodes of schizophrenia: presentation of the illness and problems relating to admission. Br J Psychiatry 148:115–120

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kallmann FJ (1938) The genetics of schizophrenia. Augustus, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennedy JL, Moises HW, Pakstis AJ, Castiglione CM, Wetterberg L (1989) Evidence against linkage of schizophrenia to markers on chromosome 5 in a northern Swedish pedigree. Nature 336:167–169

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lalouel JM, Rao DC, Morton ME, Elson RL (1983) A unified model for complex segregation analysis. Am J Hum Genet 35:816–826

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lilienfleld AM (1959) A methodological problem in testing a recessive genetic hypothesis in human disease. Am J Public Health 49(2):199–204

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGue M, Gottesman II, Rao DC (1983) The transmission of schizophrenia under a multifactorial threshold model. Am J Hum Genet 35:1161–1178

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McGue M, Gottesman II, Rao DC (1985) Resolving genetic models for the transmission of schizophrenia. Genet Epidemiol 2:99–110

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McGuffin P, Huckle P (1990) Simulation of Mendelism revisited: the recessive gene for attending medical school. Am J Hum Genet 46:994–999

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McGuffin P, Katz R, (1986) Nature, nurture and affective disorder. In: Deakin JWK (ed) The biology of depression. Gaskell, London pp 26–51

    Google Scholar 

  • McGuffin P, Sturt E (1986) Genetic markers in schizophrenia. Hum Hered 36:65–88

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McGuffin P, Farmer AE, Gottesman II, Murray RM, Reveley AM (1984) Twin concordance for operationally defined schizophrenia: confirmation of familiality and heritability. Arch Gen Psychiatry 41:541–545

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McGuffin P, Farmer AE, Gottesman II (1987a) Is there really a split in schizophrenia? The genetic evidence. Br J Psychiatry 150:581–592

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McGuffin P, Farmer AE, Gottesman II (1987b) Modem diagnostic criteria and recent genetic studies in schizophrenia. In: Häfner H, Gattaz WF, Janzarik W (eds) Search for the causes of schizophrenia. Berlin, Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 143–156

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Meehl PE (1962) Schizotaxia, schizotype and schizophrenia. Am Psychol 17:827–838

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moldin SO, Gottesman II, Erlenmeyer-Kimling L (1987) Searching for the psychometric boundaries of schizophrenia: evidence from the New York high-risk study. J Abnorm Psychol 96(4):354–363

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Morton ME, MacLean CJ (1974) Analysis of familial resemblance. III. Complex segregation analysis of quantitative traits. Am J Hum Genet 26:489–503

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Murray RM, Reveley AM, Reveley MA, Sure E, Lewis S (1985) Genetic and environmental influences in Schizophrenia. In Sakai T, Teuboi T (eds) Genetic aspects of human behaviour. Igaku-Shoin, Tokyo

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Rourke DH, Gottesman II, Suarez BK, Rice J, Reich T (1982) Refutation of the single locus model in the aetiology of schizophrenia. Am J Hum Genet 33:630–649

    Google Scholar 

  • Reich T, James W, Morris CA (1972) The use of multiple thresholds in determining the mode of transmission of semi-continuous traits. Ann Hum Genet 36:163–184

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Reich T, Cloninger CR, Wette R, James J (1979) The use of multiple thresholds and segregation analysis in analysing the phenotypic heterogeneity of multifactorial traits. Ann Hum Genet 42:371

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rice J, Reich T, Cloninger CR, Wette R (1979) An approximation to the multivariate normal integral: its application to multifactorial qualitative traits. Biometrics 35:451–459

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Risch N, Baron M (1984) Segregation analysis of schizophrenia and related disorders. Am J Hum Genetics 36:1039–1059

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sherrington R, Brynjolfson J, Petursso H, Potter M, Dudleston K et al. (1989) Localization of a susceptibility locus for schizophrenia on chromosome 5. Nature 336:164–167

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Slater E (1953) Psychotic and neurotic illnesses in twins. Medical research council special report, ser no 278. HMSO, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Slater E (1958) The monogenic theory of schizophrenia. Acta Genet 8:50–56

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Slater E, Cowie VA (1971) The genetics of mental disorder. Oxford University Press, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Spitzer RL, Endicott J, Robins E (1978) Research Diagnostic Criteria: rationale and reliability. Arch Gen Psychiatry 35:773–782

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • St. Clair D, Blackwood D, Muir W, Baillie D, Hubbard S, Wright A, Evans HJ (1989) Absence of linkage of chromosome 5q11 – q13 markers to schizophrenia in Scottish families. Nature 339:305–309

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stewart J (1980) Schizophrenia: the systematic construction of genetic models. Am J Hum Genet 32:47–54

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Suarez BK, Reich T, Trost J (1976) Limits of the general two allele single major locus model with incomplete penetrance. Ann Hum Genet 40:231–244

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Suarez BK, O’Rourke D, Van Eerdwegh P (1982) Power of the affected sib pair method to detect disease susceptibility loci of small affect in application to multiple sclerosis. Am J Med Genet 12:309–326

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vogler GP, Gottesman II, McGue MK, Rao DC (1990) Mixed model analysis of schizophrenia in the Lindelius Swedish pedigrees. Behar Genet (in press)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Wales College of Medicine, Heath Park, Cardiff, CF4 4XN, UK

    P. McGuffin

Authors
  1. P. McGuffin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Central Institute of Mental Health, P.O. Box 122120, 6800, Mannheim 1, Germany

    Heinz Häfner  & Wagner Farid Gattaz  & 

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1990 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

McGuffin, P. (1990). Models of Heritability and Genetic Transmission. In: Häfner, H., Gattaz, W.F. (eds) Search for the Causes of Schizophrenia. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74881-3_10

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74881-3_10

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-74883-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-74881-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation