Empirical evaluation of the genetic similarity of samples from twin registries in Australia and the Netherlands using 359 STRP markers

One way to achieve the large sample sizes required for genetic studies of complex traits is to combine samples collected by different groups. It is not often clear, however, whether this practice is reasonable from a genetic perspective. To assess the comparability of samples from the Australian and the Netherlands twin studies, we estimated F_st (the proportion of total genetic variability attributable to genetic differences between cohorts) based on 359 short tandem repeat polymorphisms in 1068 individuals. F_st was estimated to be 0.30% between the Australian and the Netherlands cohorts, a smaller value than between many European groups. We conclude that it is reasonable to combine the Australian and the Netherlands samples for joint genetic analyses.