Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity, University of Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany.
Curr Opin Genet Dev. 2013 Dec;23(6):665-71. doi: 10.1016/j.gde.2013.10.006. Epub 2013 Nov 20.
Elucidating the molecular basis of natural variation in complex traits is the key for their effective management in crops or natural systems. This review focuses on plant variation. It will first, show that genetic modifications causing major alterations in polygenic phenotypes often hit targets within an array of 'candidate genes', second, present new methods that include mutations of all effect sizes, and help exhaustively describe the molecular systems underlying complex traits, and third, discuss recent findings regarding the role of epigenetic variants, which in plants are often maintained through both mitosis and meiosis. Exploring the whole spectrum of mutations controlling complex traits is made possible by the combination of genetic, genomic and epigenomic approaches.
阐明复杂性状自然变异的分子基础是有效管理作物或自然系统中这些性状的关键。本综述侧重于植物变异。它将首先表明，导致多基因表型重大改变的遗传修饰通常作用于“候选基因”阵列内的靶标，其次，提出新的方法，包括所有效应大小的突变，并有助于详尽描述复杂性状的分子系统，第三，讨论最近关于表观遗传变异作用的发现，在植物中，这些变异通常通过有丝分裂和减数分裂来维持。通过结合遗传、基因组和表观基因组方法，可以探索控制复杂性状的所有突变谱。
