As explained above, gene–environment interaction can be detected through the study of genetic influences that are inferred via comparisons of different types of relatives (such as twins) (i.e., latent genetic influences), or through the study of specific measured genes by molecular techniques. Gene–environment interactions modeled latently have the advantage of providing information about the overall genetic effect averaged across the entire genome but tell nothing about the specific underlying biology. Studies of specific genes have the advantage of providing information about the underlying biology, but they are (at this point) largely limited to studying single genes in a system in which there are likely to be hundreds of genes involved.
