Natural genetic variation found among accessions of <i>Arabidopsis thaliana </i>presents the opportunity of locating and identifying novel genes by means of quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis. In this study, QTL analysis was used to identify loci involved in the genetic control of growth in <i>A. thaliana</i>. Non-destructive methods of analysis were developed and used for the measurements of growth rates in roots and leaves, whilst a simple size measurement of mature petals was used to assess growth in the floral organ. Two putative QTL were identified for primary root length, four for leaf number at day 32 and three for petal size in the Bay-0 x Shahdara recombinant inbred line (RIL) population. The Landsberg <i>erecta</i> x Columbia RIL population was also analysed, but no significant QTL were identified. The analysis suggested that, in all three organs, growth-rate is controlled by multiple small-effect QTL and is a highly plastic trait. Thus, minor environmental fluctuations during the course of experiments can lead to a large environmental variance in measurement of the traits, limiting the power of QTL analyses. Despite minimising these effects by adjusting growth techniques, the numbers and significance of QTL identified in each trait were lower then expected, and for the trait of relative growth rate in leaves no significant QTL were identified.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:641131 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Atkinson, Jennifer L. |
| Publisher | University of Edinburgh |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://hdl.handle.net/1842/11892 |
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