keywords = "genetic algorithms, genetic programming, Grammatical
evolution, Neural networks, Data mining, Human
genetics, Systems biology, XOR model",
isbn13 = "978-1-4939-0374-0",
DOI = "doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-0375-7_12",
abstract = "The vast amount of available genomics data provides us
an unprecedented ability to survey the entire genome
and search for the genetic determinants of complex
diseases. Until now, Genome-wide association studies
have been the predominant method to associate DNA
variations to disease traits. GWAS have successfully
uncovered many genetic variants associated with complex
diseases when the effect loci are strongly associated
with the trait. However, methods for studying
interaction effects among multiple loci are still
lacking. Established machine learning methods such as
the grammatical evolution neural networks (GENN) can be
adapted to help us uncover the missing interaction
effects that are not captured by GWAS studies. We used
an implementation of GENN distributed in the software
package ATHENA (Analysis Tool for Heritable and
Environmental Network Associations) to investigate the
effects of multiple GENN parameters and data noise
levels on model detection and network structure. We
concluded that the models produced by GENN were greatly
affected by algorithm parameters and data noise levels.
We also produced complex, multi-layer networks that
were not produced in the previous study. In summary,
GENN can produce complex, multi-layered networks when
the data require it for higher fitness and when the
parameter settings allow for a wide search of the
complex model space.",