With strategy a) a total number of 19 additional SNPs were identified and ranked according to strategy b). Since the total number of SNPs derived through the animal approach was only 19, we eventually decided to include all of them in the follow-up study instead of selecting a small subset based on the ranking order of genes. The three genes which were confirmed by the follow up study (Tab. 1) had been ranked # 7 (ADH), #12 (CDH), and # 19 (GATA) in approach b). We want to conclude from these data, that it is hard to introduce quantitative evaluations in those convergent approaches. Nevertheless, convergent approaches as pursued in this study can provide very valuable additional information and apparently become increasingly more popular.
