[National Research Projects] NSFC-Estimation of recombination frequency, linkage map construction and gene detection of double cross F1 and derived populations

Supervised  by: Luyan Zhang

Project code: 31200917

Period: Jan 2013 to Dec 2015

Abstract:

Genetic populations derived from multiple parents have been proposed and become more and more important now. But the corresponding methods of linkage analysis and gene detection have not been well studied. When there are four parents, double cross design is commonly used in plant genetics and breeding. In this project, we will focus on the genetic analysis methods in double cross F1 population, and derived doubled haploid (DH) and recombination inbred lines (RIL). Our objectives are (1) to derive the maximum likelihood estimation of recombination frequency; (2) to develop an efficient algorithm for linkage map construction; (3) to develop the genetic and statistic analysis method for gene detection of quantitative traits. Simulation study will be conducted to demonstrate the efficiency of these methods. Functionalities for map construction and gene detection in double cross F1 and derived populations will be implemented in the software QTL IciMapping. These methods will be applied in two or three actual double cross F1 and derived populations. Outcomes from this project will provide useful information for the genetic analysis in populations derived from more parents. In many clonal species, the F1 hybrid between two varieties can be viewed as a double cross F1 population. So the outcomes from this project can be directly used for the genetic study in many clonal species, such as potato, sweet potato, trees and flowers.