Malus domestica RNA-sequencing to explore key genes associated with apple fruit harvest date

To dissect the genetic control of a quantitative trait into several interacting Mendelian factors is a great challenge in modern molecular genetics. Apple fruit harvest date is a quantitative trait controlled by multiple genes with minor effects. The objectives of this study are to explore the interaction network and the epistatic effects among the functional genetic variations for apple fruit harvest date based on the data of RNA-sequencing weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) and quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping.