‘Heritability in the genomics era — concepts and misconceptions’ is the latest title in the Nature Reviews Genetics series on fundamental concepts in genetics. The article is published in the April issue of the journal, by Peter M. Visscher, William G. Hill and Naomi R. Wray (Nat. Rev. Genet. 9, 255; 2008 | doi:10.1038/nrg2322).

An at-a-glance summary of the key points in the article is available. Heritability is one of the oldest parameters in genetics, but also one of the most misunderstood. The authors explore exactly what heritability means, the pitfalls to avoid when using it, and its continued relevance in the genomics era.