The ultimate goal of quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping approaches is to gain a better understanding of biological mechanisms involved in these phenotypes to offer molecular tools for medical diagnosis or animal selection. Over the past three decades, several thousand QTL have been mapped for different traits in many species. In this context, whereas genome-wide association study is developing as the reference QTL mapping method for human populations, most of the QTL referenced today in experimental or livestock species were mapped by linkage analysis approaches through F2 genetic crosses.