ArticleAoB PLANTS2014
Identifying the genes underlying quantitative traits: a rationale for the QTN programme.
Article in AoB PLANTS, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers.
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Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed.
- Cis-regulation of gene expression between sexes and life stages in Rumex hastatulus.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Genome-wide identification of QTNs and candidate genes in Ethiopian sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) moench) landraces using SNP-based approaches.BMC genomic data · 2025Article
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- Enhancing Genomic Prediction Accuracy with a Single-Step Genomic Best Linear Unbiased Prediction Model Integrating Genome-Wide Association Study Results.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Yield and yield component trait analysis with DArT genotyping for GWAS in soybean grown in drought conditions of Kazakhstan.Frontiers in plant science · 2025Article
- Life history in Caenorhabditis elegans: from molecular genetics to evolutionary ecology.Genetics · 2024Review
- Haplotypes of ATP-Binding CassetteBiomolecules · 2024Article
- Genetic Architecture of Flowering Time Differs Between Populations With Contrasting Demographic and Selective Histories.Molecular biology and evolution · 2023Article
- Gene-by-environment interactions are pervasive among natural genetic variants.Cell genomics · 2023Article
- From common gardens to candidate genes: exploring local adaptation to climate in red spruce.The New phytologist · 2023Article
- Gene-by-environment interactions in plants: Molecular mechanisms, environmental drivers, and adaptive plasticity.The Plant cell · 2023Review
- A possible genomic footprint of polygenic adaptation on population divergence in seed beetles?Ecology and evolution · 2022Article
- Genetic basis of speciation and adaptation: from loci to causative mutations.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2022Article
- Evolution in small steps and giant leaps.Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · 2022Review
- Review
- Genome-wide analysis reveals demographic and life-history patterns associated with habitat modification in landlocked, deep-spawning sockeye salmon (Ecology and evolution · 2021Article
- Article
- Protein Complexes Form a Basis for Complex Hybrid Incompatibility.Frontiers in genetics · 2021Review
- Combining Experimental Evolution and Genomics to Understand How Seed Beetles Adapt to a Marginal Host Plant.Genes · 2020Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The goal of identifying the genes or even nucleotides underlying quantitative and adaptive traits has been characterized as the 'QTN programme' and has recently come under severe criticism. Part of the reason for this criticism is that much of the QTN programme has asserted that finding the genes and nucleotides for adaptive and quantitative traits is a fundamental goal, without explaining why it is such a hallowed goal. Here we outline motivations for the QTN programme that offer general insight, regardless of whether QTNs are of large or small effect, and that aid our understanding of the mechanistic dynamics of adaptive evolution. We focus on five areas: (i) vertical integration of insight across different levels of biological organization, (ii) genetic parallelism and the role of pleiotropy in shaping evolutionary dynamics, (iii) understanding the forces maintaining genetic variation in populations, (iv) distinguishing between adaptation from standing variation and new mutation, and (v) the role of genomic architecture in facilitating adaptation. We argue that rather than abandoning the QTN programme, we should refocus our efforts on topics where molecular data will be the most effective for testing hypotheses about phenotypic evolution.
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