The interplay between a mother's genes and those of her fetus has been studied as causes of a number of pregnancy complications, such as gestational hypertension and gestational diabetes. Maternal-fetal genotype (MFG) incompatibility, in particular, has been reported to play a crucial role in the development of a number of disorders during and after the pregnancy, including preeclampsia, small for gestational age neonates, childhood autism, and schizophrenia. Although this genetic conflict has long been suspected to be responsible for these and other disorders, rigorous modeling and quantitative analysis of the maternal gene-offspring gene interaction and more generally any gene-gene interaction have only been recently feasible—thanks to the development of biotechnology. It is hoped that a thorough understanding of gene-gene interactions will lead to major breakthroughs in prevention, treatment, and therapeutics specific to maternal and perinatal diseases.

The main focus of this special issue will be on gene-gene interaction in maternal and perinatal research, leading to either beneficial or detrimental outcomes of pregnancy, through genetic linkage and association studies, either by a candidate gene or a genome-wide approach, with the theme of modeling gene-gene interactions. It is anticipated that this Special Issue will become an international forum for researchers to communicate and present their most recent findings, to review and summarize past discoveries, and to foresee prospects for future studies in this area. The topics to be covered, as related to maternal and perinatal health and disease, include but are not limited to:

• Modeling gene-gene interactions
• Study design and data analysis for genetic detection of maternal or perinatal risk factors
• Specific genetic studies and findings relating to maternal or perinatal diseases
• Reviews
• Meta-analysis methods for gene-gene interactions
• Modeling missing data in genetic studies to detect interactions
• MFG incompatibility and testing
• Controlling for multiple comparisons
• Maternal genetic effects as risk factors for offspring disease

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