RESUMO
This paper presents the linkage identification by non-monotonicity detection (LIMD) procedure and its extension for overlapping functions by introducing the tightness detection (TD) procedure. The LIMD identifies linkage groups directly by performing order-2 simultaneous perturbations on a pair of loci to detect monotonicity/non-monotonicity of fitness changes. The LIMD can identify linkage groups with at most order of k when it is applied to O(2(k)) strings. The TD procedure calculates tightness of linkage between a pair of loci based on the linkage groups obtained by the LIMD. By removing loci with weak tightness from linkage groups, correct linkage groups are obtained for overlapping functions, which were considered difficult for linkage identification procedures.