Practice question

LOD score, logarithm of odds, provides statistical evaluation of likelihood that two loci are linked at certain recombination fraction theta versus unlinked theta 0.5. In human pedigrees experimental crosses impossible, so likelihoods computed from family segregation data combining phase information, marker informativeness and penetrance models. Log10 ratio summed across families yields cumulative evidence for linkage across kindreds. Positive values favor linkage, negative values exclude linkage. Concept introduced by Morton and applied widely for mapping Mendelian disease genes before dense molecular maps, remaining fundamental for parametric linkage analysis.