Contrary to the apparent impossibility of replicating linkage results across studies on renal outcomes, and denying the general difficulty of identifying meaningful association signals under previously identified linkage peaks, a new study on an isolated Mongolian population could replicate two previously reported linkage peaks and corroborate them by significant associations at multiple single-nucleotide polymorphisms. Although the two genetic loci are not novel, the study sheds light on key aspects of the genetic analysis of kidney function in the general population.