Identifying genes that influence susceptibility to asthmarelated and atopy-related phenotypes has been challenging, owing
to clinical heterogeneity and a complex underlying genetic architecture that includes both gene-gene and gene-environment
interactions. In this article, we report the results of genome-wide linkage and association studies of eight asthma-associated
quantitative traits in the Hutterites, a founder population of European descent. Our study revealed significant sex-specific
genetic architecture for at least five of these traits, and identified 13 genome-wide significant quantitative trait loci
(QTL) by linkage or association that are present in only one of the sexes (nine in males, four in females).