Variation and Quantitative Genetics in Model Organisms

描述(由申请人提供)：物种内和物种间差异的分子基础在很大程度上仍不清楚。模式生物中的标准遗传分析侧重于实验室诱导的具有较大表型效应的突变。这种类型的定性和离散变异与自然种群中看到的变异形成对比，自然种群中的变异大多是连续的。后者的遗传基础可以在数量性状基因座(QTL)中找到，每个QTL基因座只对整个变异做出一部分贡献。亲缘关系密切的物种内部或物种之间的表型差异也与亲缘关系较远的物种之间的表型差异形成对比。然而，种内和种间变异是一枚硬币的两面，尽管还没有开发出统一的分子框架。高通量基因分型、新的统计和计算方法、全面的转录组和蛋白质组图谱等新技术，以及比较亲缘关系密切和关系遥远的生物之间的整个基因组的机会，正在解决对这一框架的更好理解。理解自然变异的分子基础对于理解新特征的进化以及理解选择如何塑造包括人类基因组在内的基因组都具有重要的意义。这是一个非常重要的话题，因为人们对为什么明显有害的等位基因在人类群体中持续存在的原因知之甚少，因为在人类群体中，它们导致了许多具有强烈遗传成分的疾病。 会议将聚焦于动物和植物模型生物，在这些生物模型中，数量遗传学的使用正在经历复兴。对QTL的分子研究可以追溯到单个基因，从而可以得出基因类型和数量表型变异背后的变化的结论。第二个焦点将是最近发现的关键调控因素的变化如何导致较远亲缘关系的分类群的主要表型差异。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The molecular basis of the variation within and between species remains largely unknown. Standard genetic analyses in model organisms have focused on laboratory-induced mutations with large phenotypic effects. This type of qualitative and discrete variation contrasts with the variation seen in natural populations, which is mostly continuous. The genetic basis of the latter can be found in Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL), each of which contributes only a portion to the entire variation. The phenotypic variation seen within or between closely related species also contrasts with the phenotypic variation seen between more distantly related species. However, that intra- and interspecific variations are two sides of the same coin, although a unifying molecular framework has not been developed. A better understanding of this framework is being resolved with new technologies such as high-throughput genotyping, new statistical and computational methods, comprehensive transcriptome and proteome profiling, as well as opportunities to compare entire genomes between closely and distantly related organisms. Understanding the molecular basis of natural variation has important implications both for understanding the evolution of new traits, as well as for understanding how selection has shaped genomes, including the human genome. This is a very important topic, as it is only poorly understood why apparently detrimental alleles persist in the human population, where they contribute to many diseases with a strong genetic component. The meeting will focus both on animal and plant model organisms, in which the use of quantitative genetics is experiencing a renaissance. The molecular study of QTL, which have been traced back to individual genes, is allowing conclusions as to the type of genes and changes that underlie quantitative phenotypic variation. A second focus will be recent discoveries of how changes in key regulatory factors cause major phenotypic differences in more distantly related taxa.