scholarly journals A genome-wide association study reveals a novel regulator of ovule number and fertility in Arabidopsis thaliana

PLoS Genetics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. e1007934 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Yuan ◽  
Sharon A. Kessler
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Envel Kerdaffrec ◽  
Magnus Nordborg

AbstractSeed dormancy is a complex adaptive trait that controls the timing of seed germination, one of the major fitness components in many plant species. Despite being highly heritable, seed dormancy is extremely plastic and influenced by a wide range of environmental cues. Here, using a set of 92 Arabidopsis thaliana lines from Sweden, we investigate the effect of seed maturation temperature on dormancy variation at the population level. The response to temperature differs dramatically between lines, demonstrating that genotype and the maternal environment interact in controlling the trait. By performing a genome-wide association study (GWAS), we identified several candidate genes that could account for this plasticity, two of which are involved in the photoinduction of germination. Altogether, our results provide insight into both the molecular mechanisms and the evolution of dormancy plasticity, and can serve to improve our understanding of environmentally dependent life-history transitions.HighlightThe effect of low seed-maturation temperatures on seed dormancy is highly variable in Arabidopsis thaliana accessions from Sweden, denoting strong genotype-environment interactions, and a genome-wide association study identified compelling candidates that could account for this plasticity.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rhonda C. Meyer ◽  
Kathleen Weigelt-Fischer ◽  
Dominic Knoch ◽  
Marc Heuermann ◽  
Yusheng Zhao ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTWe assessed early vegetative growth in a population of 382 accessions of Arabidopsis thaliana using automated non-invasive high-throughput phenotyping. All accessions were imaged daily from seven to 18 days after sowing in three independent experiments and genotyped using the Affymetrix 250k SNP array. Projected leaf area (PLA) was derived from image analysis and used to calculate relative growth rates (RGR). In addition, initial seed size was determined. The generated data sets were used jointly for a genome-wide association study that identified 238 marker-trait associations (MTAs) individually explaining up to 8 % of the total phenotypic variation. Co-localisation of MTAs occurred at 33 genomic positions. At 21 of these positions, sequential co-localisation of MTAs for two to nine consecutive days was observed. The detected MTAs for PLA and RGR could be grouped according to their temporal expression patterns, emphasising that temporal variation of MTA action can be observed even during the vegetative growth phase, a period of continuous formation and enlargement of seemingly similar rosette leaves. This indicates that causal genes may be differentially expressed in successive periods. Analyses of the temporal dynamics of biological processes are needed to gain important insight into the molecular mechanisms of growth-controlling processes in plants.HighlightA genome-wide association study including the factor time highlighted that early plant growth in Arabidopsis is governed by several medium and many small effect loci, most of which act only during short phases of two to nine days.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anamarija Butković ◽  
Rubén González ◽  
Mark Paul Selda Rivarez ◽  
Santiago F. Elena

AbstractPathogens can be classified as generalists or specialists depending on their host breadth. While generalists are able to successfully infect a wide variety of host species, the host range of specialists is limited to a few related species. Even though generalists seem to gain an advantage due to their wide host range, they usually pay a cost in terms of fitness within each host species (i.e., the jack-of-all trades, master of none). On the contrary, specialists have high fitness within their own host. A highly relevant yet poorly explored question is whether generalist and specialist viruses differ in the way they interact with their host’s gene expression networks. To identify host genetic factors relevant for the infection of specialist or generalist viruses, we undertook a genome-wide association study (GWAS) approach. Four hundred fifty natural accessions of Arabidopsis thaliana were inoculated with turnip mosaic potyvirus strains that were either generalist (TuMV-G) or specialist (TuMV-S). Several disease-related traits have been associated with different sets of host genes for each TuMV strain. While most of the mapped loci were traitor strain-specific, one shared locus was mapped for both strains, a disease resistance TIR-NBS-LRR class protein. Likewise, only one locus was found involved in more than one of the disease-related traits evaluated, a putative cysteine-rich receptor-like protein kinase 20. To validate these results, the corresponding null mutant plants were inoculated with TuMV-G or -S and the outcome of infection was characterized.Author summaryGeneralist and specialist viruses are commonly found in nature, where they have potential for epidemics, and are classified depending on their host breath. In this study we used a genome-wide association study to characterize differences in the genetic basis of both infection strategies from a host perspective. Our experimental setup consisted of 450 accessions of A. thaliana and two strains of TuMV. We found differences in the number of associated genes and their functions in disease-related traits. Results were validated by characterization of viral infections in null mutant plants deficient for a set of the identified genes.


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