* Association studies can determine whether a genetic variant is associated with a disease or trait.
* A tag SNP is a representative single-nucleotide polymorphism in a region of the genome with high linkage disequilibrium (the non-random association of alleles at two or more loci). Tag SNPs are useful in whole-genome SNP association studies, in which hundreds of thousands of SNPs across the entire genome are genotyped.
* Haplotype mapping: sets of alleles or DNA sequences can be clustered so that a single SNP can identify many linked SNPs.
* Linkage disequilibrium (LD), a term used in population genetics, indicates non-random association of alleles at two or more loci, not necessarily on the same chromosome. It refers to the phenomenon that SNP allele or DNA sequence that are close together in the genome tend to be inherited together. LD can be affected by two parameters (among other factors, such as population stratification): 1) The distance between the SNPs [the larger the distance, the lower the LD]. 2) Recombination rate [the lower the recombination rate, the higher the LD].
* In genetic epidemiology SNPs are used to estimate transmission clusters.