SRAT: Sequence Robust Association Test

Overview

SRAT implements a fully rank-based and flexible approach to test for association between a set of genetic variants and an outcome, while accounting for within-family correlation and adjusting for covariates. The method is designed for genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and next-generation sequencing studies (NGSS) performed on family data.

Key Features

  • Fully rank-based, robust statistical method
  • Accounts for within-family correlation in genetic studies
  • Allows for unknown correlation structures
  • Requires weaker assumptions about the outcome distribution
  • Includes the well-known Wilcoxon rank sum test as a special case
  • Provides better protection against type I error rate inflation
  • More powerful for settings with skewed outcome distributions compared to existing methods

Installation

Install development version from GitHub:

# install.packages("remotes")
remotes::install_github("celehs/SRAT")

Functions

  • srat(): Main function for the Sequence Robust Association Test
  • srat.null(): Fits the null model for SRAT
  • srat.test(): Tests for genetic association using the fitted null model
  • obj.min(): Helper function for objective function minimization

Citation

Dai W, Yang M, Wang C, Cai T. Sequence robust association test for familial data. Biometrics. 2017 Sep;73(3):876-884. doi: 10.1111/biom.12643. Epub 2017 Mar 8. PMID: 28273695; PMCID: PMC11141465.