Nested association mapping for identification of functional markers.

Identification of functional markers (FMs) provides information about the genetic architecture underlying complex traits. An approach that combines the strengths of linkage and association mapping, referred to as nested association mapping (NAM), has been proposed to identify FMs in many plant species. The ability to identify and resolve FMs for complex traits depends upon a number of factors including frequency of FM alleles, magnitudes of their genetic effects, disequilibrium among functional and nonfunctional markers, statistical analysis methods, and mating design. The statistical characteristics of power, accuracy, and precision to identify FMs with a NAM population were investigated using three simulation studies. The simulated data sets utilized publicly available genetic sequences and simulated FMs were identified using least-squares variable selection methods. Results indicate that FMs with simple additive genetic effects that contribute at least 5% to the phenotypic variability in at least five segregating families of a NAM population consisting of recombinant inbred progeny derived from 28 matings with a single reference inbred will have adequate power to accurately and precisely identify FMs. This resolution and power are possible even for genetic architectures consisting of disequilibrium among multiple functional and nonfunctional markers in the same genomic region, although the resolution of FMs will deteriorate rapidly if more than two FMs are tightly linked within the same amplicon. Finally, nested mating designs involving several reference parents will have a greater likelihood of resolving FMs than single reference designs.