title: Genetic architecture of naturally occurring quantitative traits in plants: an updated synthesis.
abstract: Deciphering the genetic and molecular bases of quantitative variation is a long-standing challenge in plant biology because it is essential for understanding evolution and for accelerating plant breeding. Recent multi-trait analyses at different phenotypic levels are uncovering the pleiotropy and the genetic regulation underlying high-level complex traits. Thus, the number of known causal loci, genes and nucleotide polymorphisms is expanding. Current plant causal catalogs contain ∼400 genes and natural polymorphisms revealing several dysfunctional allelic series that involve multiple mutations. In addition, repeated evolution of quantitative traits mediated by large effect alleles is found across plant phylogeny. Finally, systematic analyses of genetic and environmental interactions are beginning to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of relevant interactions.
authors.affiliation: Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Darwin 3, Madrid 28049, Spain. Electronic address: calonso@cnb.csic.es.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Alonso-Blanco
authors.affiliation: Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Darwin 3, Madrid 28049, Spain.
authors.forename: Belén
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Méndez-Vigo
mesh_terms: D005075:Biological Evolution; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks; D010641:Phenotype; D010944:Plants / Q000235:genetics*; D040641:Quantitative Trait Loci / Q000235:genetics; D019655:Quantitative Trait, Heritable