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Review
. 2021 Aug;78(15):5743-5754.
doi: 10.1007/s00018-021-03868-w. Epub 2021 Jul 1.

Genome-wide association studies: assessing trait characteristics in model and crop plants

Saleh Alseekh  1   2 , Dimitrina Kostova  2   3 , Mustafa Bulut  1 , Alisdair R Fernie  4   5
Affiliations
Review

Genome-wide association studies: assessing trait characteristics in model and crop plants

Saleh Alseekh et al. Cell Mol Life Sci. 2021 Aug.

Abstract

GWAS involves testing genetic variants across the genomes of many individuals of a population to identify genotype-phenotype association. It was initially developed and has proven highly successful in human disease genetics. In plants genome-wide association studies (GWAS) initially focused on single feature polymorphism and recombination and linkage disequilibrium but has now been embraced by a plethora of different disciplines with several thousand studies being published in model and crop species within the last decade or so. Here we will provide a comprehensive review of these studies providing cases studies on biotic resistance, abiotic tolerance, yield associated traits, and metabolic composition. We also detail current strategies of candidate gene validation as well as the functional study of haplotypes. Furthermore, we provide a critical evaluation of the GWAS strategy and its alternatives as well as future perspectives that are emerging with the emergence of pan-genomic datasets.

Keywords: Crop species; GWAS; Genetic architecture; Quantitative trait loci.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest,

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
A schematic view of GWAS in plants
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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