Bayes factor for testing the genetic background of quantitative threshold traits

The recent development of the Bayes factor methodology to test between nested competing models has allowed to evaluate the genetic component of continuous traits through a methodology based on the reparameterization of a variance component model in terms of intraclass correlation. In this study, we present a modification of that procedure to compare between threshold models that only differ in a bounded variable. An extra data-augmentation step is required to sample liability, an underlying continuous variable related with phenotypic records through an adequate number of thresholds. In this context, we describe a procedure to sample from a truncated multivariate normal distribution with non-null covariances between records, taking as starting point the Cholesky factorization and the inclusion of linear restrictions. The method was tested by computer simulations with satisfactory results. © 2006 Blackwell Verlag.