Data from: QTL detection power of multi-parental RIL populations in Arabidopsis thaliana

A major goal of today's biology is to understand the genetic basis of quantitative traits. This can be achieved by statistical methods that evaluate the association between molecular marker variation and phenotypic variation in different types of mapping populations. The objective of this work was to evaluate the statistical power of QTL detection of various multi-parental mating designs as well as to assess the reasons for the observed differences. Our study was based on empirical data of 20 Arabidopsis thaliana accessions which have been selected to capture the maximum genetic diversity. The examined mating designs differed strongly with respect to the statistical power to detect QTL. We observed the highest power to detect QTL for the diallel cross with random mating design. The results of our study suggested that performing sibling mating within subpopulations of joint linkage mapping populations has the potential to considerably increase the power for QTL detec tion. Our results, however, revealed that using designs in which more than two parental alleles segregate in each subpopulation increases the power even more.

当代生物学的核心目标之一，是解析数量性状的遗传基础。该目标可通过统计方法实现，此类方法可评估不同类型作图群体（mapping population）中分子标记变异与表型变异间的关联。本研究旨在评估多种多亲交配设计的数量性状基因座（Quantitative Trait Locus，QTL）检测统计效力，并解析检测效能差异的成因。
本研究以20份经筛选以最大化覆盖遗传多样性的拟南芥（Arabidopsis thaliana）种质系的实证数据为基础。所考察的各类交配设计在QTL检测的统计效力上存在显著差异。
本研究发现，采用随机交配双列杂交（diallel cross）设计的QTL检测效力最高。
研究结果表明，在联合连锁作图群体的亚群体内开展同胞交配，可显著提升QTL检测效力。
但本研究结果同时显示，采用每个亚群体内存在多于两种亲本等位基因（allele）分离的设计，可进一步提升检测效力。