Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
2
The Use of Association Genetics
Approaches in Plant Breeding
María F. Álvarez
*
and Teresa Mosquera
National University of Colombia
-
Bogotá
Bogotá, DC Colombia
Matthew W. Blair
*
National University of Colombia
-
Palmira
Palmira, Valle, Colombia
ABSTRACT
Association genetics or associationmapping (AM) is one of the approaches that is
currently being used because of its multiple applications to many crops. Asso-
ciation genetics is useful as a novel strategy for discovery of new markers to use
in marker-assisted selection (MAS) and breeding or for con
rmation of quanti-
tative trait loci (QTL). Even though association genetics was de
ned in the late
1980s, it is only in recent years that this concept has been brought into research
practice for plant genetic analysis. The ef
cient increase of data for genotyping
and the increase in computational power have promoted the use of AM.
Association genetics offers an interesting approach for genetic analysis of
quantitative traits because of its resolution power and the possibility to study
various regions of the genome simultaneously without the construction of
mapping populations. Thus, AM is a useful option for studying agronomical
traits; considering that most agronomic traits are oligo- or multigenic with
underlying genes of independent inheritance. The principle of association
studies relies on linkage disequilibrium (LD). AM offers a high-resolution power
*
The
rst and last authors contributed equally to the writing and preparation of this chapter.
