Genome-wide association studies: assessing trait characteristics in model and crop plants

GWAS involves testing genetic variants across the genomes of many individuals of a population to identify genotype-phenotype association. It was initially developed and has proven highly successful in human disease genetics. In plants genome-wide association studies (GWAS) initially focused on single feature polymorphism and recombination and linkage disequilibrium but has now been embraced by a plethora of different disciplines with several thousand studies being published in model and crop species within the last decade or so. Here we will provide a comprehensive review of these studies providing cases studies on biotic resistance, abiotic tolerance, yield associated traits, and metabolic composition. We also detail current strategies of candidate gene validation as well as the functional study of haplotypes. Furthermore, we provide a critical evaluation of the GWAS strategy and its alternatives as well as future perspectives that are emerging with the emergence of pan-genomic datasets.

Automated summary

GWAS is a successful method for studying genotype-phenotype associations, initially developed in human disease genetics and now widely embraced in plant research. Plant GWAS has been applied in model and crop species over the past decade, covering various fields such as biotic resistance, abiotic tolerance, yield-associated traits, and metabolic composition.