Nature, October 28, 2013
Gigantic genealogy linking 13 million people sheds light on how genes influence complex traits.
Using data pulled from online genealogy sites, a renowned ‘genome hacker’ has constructed what is likely the biggest family trees ever assembled. The researcher and his team now plan to use the data — including a single uber-pedigree comprising 13 million individuals, which stretches back to the fifteenth century — to analyse the inheritance of complex genetic traits, such as longevity and fertility.