The Use of Integrated SNP Correlation, Co-expression and Genome-Wide Association Networks for Populus trichocarpa to Discover Pleiotropic & Epistatic Plant Functions Involved in Microbial Interactions
D. JACOBSON (1), D. Weighill (2), C. Bleker (2), W. Muchero (1), T. Tschaplinski (1), G. Tuskan (1) (1) Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S.A.; (2) Oak Ridge National Laboratory/University of Tennessee, U.S.A.

Biological organisms are complex systems that are composed of pleiotropic functional networks of interacting molecules and macro-molecules. Complex phenotypes are the result of orchestrated, hierarchal, heterogeneous collections of expressed genomic variants regulated by and related to biotic and abiotic signals. However, the effects of these variants are the result of historic selective pressure and current environmental as well as epigenetic interactions, and, as such, their co-occurrence can be seen as genome-wide associations in a number of different manners. In this context, a plant’s association with its microbiome is a complex set of interactions involving many genes and metabolites. We are using data derived from the re-sequenced genomes from over 1000 alternate Populus trichocarpa genotypes in combination with transcriptomics, metabolomics and phenomics data across this population in order to better understand the molecular interactions involved in plant-microbe interfaces. The resulting Genome-Wide Association Study networks, integrated with SNP correlations and co-expression networks, are proving to be a powerful approach to determine the pleiotropic and epistatic relationships underlying cellular functions and, as such, some of the molecular underpinnings for plant-microbiome associations.

Abstract Number: P14-421
Session Type: Poster