scholarly journals Refining Bulk Segregant Analyses: Ontology-Mediated Discovery of Flowering Time Genes in Brassica oleracea

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rutger Aldo Vos ◽  
Karin van Veen ◽  
Eric Schranz ◽  
Klaas Vrieling ◽  
Peter G. L. Klinkhamer ◽  
...  

Bulk segregant analysis (BSA) can help identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs), but this may result in substantial bycatch of functionally irrelevant genes. Here we develop a Gene Ontology-mediated approach to zoom in on specific markers implicated in flowering time from among QTLs identified by BSA of the giant woody Jersey kale phenotyped in four bulks of flowering onset. Our BSA yielded tens of thousands of candidate genes. We reduced this by two orders of magnitude by focusing on genes annotated with terms contained within relevant subgraphs of the Gene Ontology. A further enrichment test led to the pathway for circadian rhythm in plants. The genes that enriched this pathway are attested from previous research as regulating flowering time. Some of these genes were also identified as having functionally significant variation compared to Arabidopsis. We validated and confirmed our ontology-mediated results through a more targeted, homology-based approach. However, our ontology-mediated approach produced additional genes of putative importance, showing that the approach aids in exploration and discovery. We view our method as potentially applicable to the study of other complex traits and therefore make our workflows available as open-source code and a reusable Docker container.

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fanny Bonnafous ◽  
Ghislain Fievet ◽  
Nicolas Blanchet ◽  
Marie-Claude Boniface ◽  
Sébastien Carrère ◽  
...  

AbstractGenome-wide association studies are a powerful and widely used tool to decipher the genetic control of complex traits. One of the main challenges for hybrid crops, such as maize or sunflower, is to model the hybrid vigor in the linear mixed models, considering the relatedness between individuals. Here, we compared two additive and three non-additive association models for their ability to identify genomic regions associated with flowering time in sunflower hybrids. A panel of 452 sunflower hybrids, corresponding to incomplete crossing between 36 male lines and 36 female lines, was phenotyped in five environments and genotyped for 2,204,423 SNPs. Intra-locus effects were estimated in multi-locus models to detect genomic regions associated with flowering time using the different models. Thirteen quantitative trait loci were identified in total, two with both model categories and one with only non-additive models. A quantitative trait loci on LG09, detected by both the additive and non-additive models, is located near a GAI homolog and is presented in detail. Overall, this study shows the added value of non-additive modeling of allelic effects for identifying genomic regions that control traits of interest and that could participate in the heterosis observed in hybrids.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Odell ◽  
Asher I Hudson ◽  
Sébastien Praud ◽  
Pierre Dubreuil ◽  
Marie-Helene Tixier ◽  
...  

The search for quantitative trait loci (QTL) that explain complex traits such as yield and flowering time has been ongoing in all crops. Methods such as bi-parental QTL mapping and genome-wide association studies (GWAS) each have their own advantages and limitations. Multi-parent advanced generation intercross (MAGIC) populations contain more recombination events and genetic diversity than bi-parental mapping populations and reduce the confounding effect of population structure that is an issue in association mapping populations. Here we discuss the results of using a MAGIC population of doubled haploid (DH) maize lines created from 16 diverse founders to perform QTL mapping. We compare three models that assume bi-allelic, founder, and ancestral haplotype allelic states for QTL. The three methods have different power to detect QTL for a variety of agronomic traits. Although the founder approach finds the most QTL, there are also QTL unique to each method, suggesting that each model has advantages for traits with different genetic architectures. A closer look at a well-characterized flowering time QTL, qDTA8, which contains vgt1, suggests a potential epistatic interaction and highlights the strengths and weaknesses of each method. Overall, our results reinforce the importance of considering different approaches to analyzing genotypic datasets, and show the limitations of binary SNP data for identifying multi-allelic QTL.


Genetics ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 165 (3) ◽  
pp. 1489-1506
Author(s):  
Kathleen D Jermstad ◽  
Daniel L Bassoni ◽  
Keith S Jech ◽  
Gary A Ritchie ◽  
Nicholas C Wheeler ◽  
...  

Abstract Quantitative trait loci (QTL) were mapped in the woody perennial Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii [Mirb.] Franco) for complex traits controlling the timing of growth initiation and growth cessation. QTL were estimated under controlled environmental conditions to identify QTL interactions with photoperiod, moisture stress, winter chilling, and spring temperatures. A three-generation mapping population of 460 cloned progeny was used for genetic mapping and phenotypic evaluations. An all-marker interval mapping method was used for scanning the genome for the presence of QTL and single-factor ANOVA was used for estimating QTL-by-environment interactions. A modest number of QTL were detected per trait, with individual QTL explaining up to 9.5% of the phenotypic variation. Two QTL-by-treatment interactions were found for growth initiation, whereas several QTL-by-treatment interactions were detected among growth cessation traits. This is the first report of QTL interactions with specific environmental signals in forest trees and will assist in the identification of candidate genes controlling these important adaptive traits in perennial plants.


Euphytica ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 200 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. X. Luo ◽  
C. Y. Luo ◽  
D. Z. Du ◽  
Z. Fu ◽  
Y. M. Yao ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eilis Hannon ◽  
Tyler J Gorrie-Stone ◽  
Melissa C Smart ◽  
Joe Burrage ◽  
Amanda Hughes ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTCharacterizing the complex relationship between genetic, epigenetic and transcriptomic variation has the potential to increase understanding about the mechanisms underpinning health and disease phenotypes. In this study, we describe the most comprehensive analysis of common genetic variation on DNA methylation (DNAm) to date, using the Illumina EPIC array to profile samples from the UK Household Longitudinal study. We identified 12,689,548 significant DNA methylation quantitative trait loci (mQTL) associations (P < 6.52x10-14) occurring between 2,907,234 genetic variants and 93,268 DNAm sites, including a large number not identified using previous DNAm-profiling methods. We demonstrate the utility of these data for interpreting the functional consequences of common genetic variation associated with > 60 human traits, using Summary data–based Mendelian Randomization (SMR) to identify 1,662 pleiotropic associations between 36 complex traits and 1,246 DNAm sites. We also use SMR to characterize the relationship between DNAm and gene expression, identifying 6,798 pleiotropic associations between 5,420 DNAm sites and the transcription of 1,702 genes. Our mQTL database and SMR results are available via a searchable online database (http://www.epigenomicslab.com/online-data-resources/) as a resource to the research community.


Genetics ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 165 (2) ◽  
pp. 867-883 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nengjun Yi ◽  
Shizhong Xu ◽  
David B Allison

AbstractMost complex traits of animals, plants, and humans are influenced by multiple genetic and environmental factors. Interactions among multiple genes play fundamental roles in the genetic control and evolution of complex traits. Statistical modeling of interaction effects in quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis must accommodate a very large number of potential genetic effects, which presents a major challenge to determining the genetic model with respect to the number of QTL, their positions, and their genetic effects. In this study, we use the methodology of Bayesian model and variable selection to develop strategies for identifying multiple QTL with complex epistatic patterns in experimental designs with two segregating genotypes. Specifically, we develop a reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm to determine the number of QTL and to select main and epistatic effects. With the proposed method, we can jointly infer the genetic model of a complex trait and the associated genetic parameters, including the number, positions, and main and epistatic effects of the identified QTL. Our method can map a large number of QTL with any combination of main and epistatic effects. Utility and flexibility of the method are demonstrated using both simulated data and a real data set. Sensitivity of posterior inference to prior specifications of the number and genetic effects of QTL is investigated.


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