Quantitative Genetics Identifies Cryptic Genetic Variation Involved in the Paternal Regulation of Seed Development.

Autor: Nuno D Pires, Marian Bemer, Lena M Müller, Célia Baroux, Charles Spillane, Ueli Grossniklaus
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2016
Předmět:
Zdroj: PLoS Genetics, Vol 12, Iss 1, p e1005806 (2016)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1553-7390
1553-7404
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1005806
Popis: Embryonic development requires a correct balancing of maternal and paternal genetic information. This balance is mediated by genomic imprinting, an epigenetic mechanism that leads to parent-of-origin-dependent gene expression. The parental conflict (or kinship) theory proposes that imprinting can evolve due to a conflict between maternal and paternal alleles over resource allocation during seed development. One assumption of this theory is that paternal alleles can regulate seed growth; however, paternal effects on seed size are often very low or non-existent. We demonstrate that there is a pool of cryptic genetic variation in the paternal control of Arabidopsis thaliana seed development. Such cryptic variation can be exposed in seeds that maternally inherit a medea mutation, suggesting that MEA acts as a maternal buffer of paternal effects. Genetic mapping using recombinant inbred lines, and a novel method for the mapping of parent-of-origin effects using whole-genome sequencing of segregant bulks, indicate that there are at least six loci with small, paternal effects on seed development. Together, our analyses reveal the existence of a pool of hidden genetic variation on the paternal control of seed development that is likely shaped by parental conflict.
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