SNP sets selection under mutual information criterion, application to F7/FVII dataset

One of the main goals of human genetics is to find genetic markers related to complex diseases. In blood coagulation process, it is known that genetic variability in F7 gene is the most responsible for observed variations in FVII levels in blood. In this work, we propose a method for selecting sets of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) significantly correlated with a phenotype (FVII levels). This method employs a feature selection algorithm (variant of Sequential Forward Selection, SFS) based on a criterion of statistical significance of a mutual information functional. This algorithm is applied to a sample of independent individuals from the GAIT project. Main SNPs found by the algorithm are in correspondence with previous results published using family-based techniques.