Chinese Bulletin of Botany ›› 2016, Vol. 51 ›› Issue (4): 411-415.DOI: 10.11983/CBB16121

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Genome-wide Association Study Opens a Window to Molecular Dissection of Rice Grain Size

Xinmin Li, Hongxuan Lin*   

  1. National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics, Centre for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200032, China
  • Received:2016-06-01 Accepted:2016-06-13 Online:2016-07-01 Published:2016-08-05
  • Contact: Lin Hongxuan
  • About author:

    # Co-first authors

Abstract: High-throughput sequencing technologies bring us the genomics age, consequently facilitates genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of complex traits in crops. But GWAS has not yet been successful in detecting the genetic basis of phenotypic variations in rice due to limited mapping resolution. Recently, chinese scientists have cloned a QTL for rice grain length and weight using GWAS combining with functional investigations and propelled the molecular dissection of rice QTL from genetics to genomics. Their study provided us not only a model for investigating rice complex traits and evolutionary changes using “omics” resources but also a valuable gene for rice breeding.