RESEARCH >> Polypoids and QTL Mapping
The VISG polyploids project is developing methods for QTL mapping in polyploids which make use of available marker information and enable multi-locus Bayesian inference of the genetic architecture.
Polyploids are species have more than two paired sets of chromosomes. Humans are diploid, we have two pairs of chromosomes. The most common examples of polyploidy are found in plant species, including clover, some ryegrasses, kiwifruit and potato. Together, pastoral-based agriculture and these horticultural species contributed 3+ billion dollars in export earnings to New Zealand in 2009.
Polyploids have two or more sub-genomes resulting in multiple alleles at each locus. Markers are rarely fully informative so the analytical methods need to deal with considerable and variable amounts of missing information. This is being done using a general method based on peeling in Bayesian QTL gene mapping. This method will be will be integrated with the Bayesian information criterion method or Reversible-Jump Markov Chain Monte Carlo, extending Bayesian multi-locus inference of the genetic architecture to polyploids. Our method will enable sound inference and unbiased estimates of QTL effects from a single dataset, making efficient use of all available data, including partially informative markers and markers with missing values.
KEY PERSONNEL
Statisticians
Rod Ball, Scion, Lead Statistician (Bayesian Statistician)
Nihal DeSilva, Plant Food Ltd, Statistician
Yi Lin Jia, Plant and Food Ltd. Statistician
Geneticists
Gail Timmerman-Vaughan, Plant and Food Ltd, Lead Geneticist and Project Governance Group member
Mark McNeilage, Plant and Food Ltd. Geneticist
Brent Barrett, AgResearch. Geneticist
