In yeast, as in humans, telomere length varies among individuals and is controlled by multiple loci. In a quest to define the extent of variation in telomere length, we screened 112 wild-type Saccharomyces sensu stricto isolates. We found extensive telomere length variation in S. paradoxus isolates. This phenotype correlated with their geographic origin: European strains were observed to have e...

The regulation of mineral accumulation in plants is genetically complex, with several genetic loci involved in the control of one mineral and loci affecting the accumulation of different minerals. To investigate the role of growth medium and organ type on the genetics of mineral accumulation, two existing (LerxKond, LerxAn-1) and one new (LerxEri-1) Arabidopsis thaliana Recombinant Inbred Line ...

The cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) exhibits extensive variations in fruit size and shape. Fruit length is an important agronomic and domesticated trait controlled by quantitative trait loci (QTLs). Nonetheless, the underlying molecular and genetic mechanisms that determine cucumber fruit length remain unclear. QTL-seq is an efficient strategy for QTL identification that takes advantage of bulked...

Alternaria brassicae, a necrotrophic fungal pathogen, causes Alternaria blight, one of the most important diseases of oleiferous Brassica crops. The current study utilized Arabidopsis as a model to decipher the genetic architecture of defense against A. brassicae. Significant phenotypic variation that was largely genetically determined was observed among Arabidopsis accessions in response to pa...

Our previous work demonstrated 2 quantitative trait loci (QTLs), C2QTL1 and C2QTL2, for blood pressure (BP) located on chromosome (Chr) 2 of Dahl salt-sensitive (DSS) rats. However, for a lack of markers, the 2 congenic strains delineating C2QTL1 and C2QTL2 could not be separated. The position of the C2QTL1 was only inferred by comparing 2 congenic strains, one having and another lacking a BP e...

Seed storability in rice (Oryza sativa L.) is an important agronomic trait. Two segregating populations with N22 (indica) as a common parent, viz. a set of 122 backcross-inbred lines (BILs) derived from the backcross Nanjing35 (japonica)/N22//Nanjing35 and another population comprising 189 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) from the cross of USSR5 (japonica) and N22, were studied to detect quantit...

A study was conducted to identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) that affect colony-level stinging behavior and individual body size of honey bees. An F1 queen was produced from a cross between a queen of European origin and a drone descended from an African subspecies. Haploid drones from the hybrid queen were individually backcrossed to sister European queens to produce 172 colonies with back...

Many studies have identified quantitative trait loci (QTLs) that contribute to continuous variation in heritable traits of interest. However, general principles regarding the distribution of QTL numbers, effect sizes, and combined effects of multiple QTLs remain to be elucidated. Here, we characterize complex genetics underlying inheritance of thousands of transcript levels in a cross between t...

Rice tiller angle is an important agronomic trait that contributes to crop production and plays a vital role in high yield breeding. In this study, a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from the cross of a glabrous tropical japonica rice D50 and an indica rice HB277, was used to investigate quantitative trait loci (QTLs) controlling rice tiller angle. Two major QTLs, qTAC8 and qTAC...

Glucosinolates are major secondary metabolites found in the Brassicaceae family. These compounds play an essential role in plant defense against biotic and abiotic stresses, but more interestingly they have beneficial effects on human health. We performed a genetic analysis in order to identify the genome regions regulating glucosinolates biosynthesis in a DH mapping population of Brassica oler...