Large-scale genome-wide association studies that capitalize on 
vast numbers of study subjects and single nucleotide 
polymorphisms (SNPs) provide a powerful approach for 
identifying qualitative trait loci and disease susceptibility 
genes of complex diseases. However, such studies entail high 
costs due to intensive individual genotyping experiments 
involving the large numbers of study subjects and genetic
markers. A cost-effective solution is to screen for human 
disease susceptibility genes using pooled DNA allelotyping 
combined with SNP arrays. Potentially important SNP marker sets 
identified by this initial screen are further examined by a 
subsequent confirming association study and a biological 
function study. This cutting-edge approach has been broadly 
evaluated and applied successfully to recent practical
genetic/genomic studies. Here we provide an overview of recent 
methods/applications development in this area. We describe and 
discuss the study background and rationale, data attributes and 
analysis procedures, related resources for databases and 
software, strengths and limitations, and potential future 
research directions.