Can someone please explain me the logic behind identifying genes present within 50KB, 100KB and 500KB (both side) of a SNP locus ? How does the SNP affect the function of the genes present within the above mentioned windows?
GWAS are searching for loci associated with a trait or a disease in a window defined by the protocol. having an associated SNP in a region do not mean that this SNP is the causing one, but just that it's closed to the real affecting SNP. they are often named tag SNP since they represent the loci to be associated with the trait. That's why in such study it's regular to search for genes around and see what's wrong.