Gene Expression Explains Most of the Phenotypic Variations in Arabidopsis Bay0xSha RILs.

Naturally occurred phenotypic variations can be explained by differential gene expression or by changes in protein sequence.  Our analysis of publicly available genotypic, phenotypic [1] and gene expression data [2] for the Arabidopsis Bay0xSha recombinant inbred lines indicates that the changes in gene expression is the most common reason of the natural phenotypic variations. Using phenotypic and expression data we have identified genes whose expression correlate most significantly with various traits and found that their location in the genome remarkably coincides with the independently discovered QTLs for these traits. In 10 out of 15 traits the best correlating genes are located within the main QTL. In 14 out of 15 cases, the main QTL peak includes one of the top three most significantly correlating genes.  QTL peaks were identified by composite interval mapping using QTL Cartographer software.

References

1.       Loudet et al. Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 104 (2002) p 1173.

2.       West  et al. Genetics,175 (2007) p 1441.