A survey of current software for linkage analysis

There is now a wide choice of software available for linkage analysis. The most well known packages are briefly reviewed here. The package with the most extensive range of analyses is GENEHUNTER, but for many of its functions there are other programs with better performance. These include FASTLINK and VITESSE for parametric analysis ALLEGRO and MERLIN for non-parametric analysis and SOLAR for variance components analysis. The computational limits of current approaches can be improved with SIMWALK2 and the promising new SUPERLINK program. Directions for future work include improved user interfaces and consensus formats for data input and exchange.