National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China.
Plant J. 2019 Jan;97(1):8-18. doi: 10.1111/tpj.14139. Epub 2018 Dec 17.
With the advent of rapid genotyping and next-generation sequencing technologies, genome-wide association study (GWAS) has become a routine strategy for decoding genotype-phenotype associations in many species. More than 1000 such studies over the last decade have revealed substantial genotype-phenotype associations in crops and provided unparalleled opportunities to probe functional genomics. Beyond the many 'hits' obtained, this review summarizes recent efforts to increase our understanding of the genetic architecture of complex traits by focusing on non-main effects including epistasis, pleiotropy, and phenotypic plasticity. We also discuss how these achievements and the remaining gaps in our knowledge will guide future studies. Synthetic association is highlighted as leading to false causality, which is prevalent but largely underestimated. Furthermore, validation evidence is appealing for future GWAS, especially in the context of emerging genome-editing technologies.
随着快速基因分型和下一代测序技术的出现，全基因组关联研究（GWAS）已成为许多物种解码基因型-表型关联的常规策略。在过去的十年中，有 1000 多项这样的研究揭示了作物中大量的基因型-表型关联，并提供了前所未有的机会来探究功能基因组学。除了获得的许多“命中”之外，本综述还通过关注包括上位性、多效性和表型可塑性在内的非主要效应，总结了最近为增进我们对复杂性状遗传结构的理解而做出的努力。我们还讨论了这些成就和我们知识中的剩余差距将如何指导未来的研究。综合关联被突出为导致虚假因果关系的原因，这种情况很普遍，但在很大程度上被低估了。此外，未来的 GWAS 需要验证证据，尤其是在新兴基因组编辑技术的背景下。
