Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41968495›Full record

ArticleEcology2026

Genome-wide associations of leaf spectral variation in MAGIC lines of Nicotiana attenuata.

Cheng Li, Ewa A Czyż, Bernhard Schmid, Rishav Ray, Rayko Halitschke, Ian T Baldwin, Michael E Schaepman, Meredith C Schuman

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Ecology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Cheng LiDepartment of Geography, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7654-1554
Ewa A CzyżDepartment of Geography, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
Bernhard SchmidDepartment of Geography, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
Rishav RayDepartment of Molecular Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany.
Rayko HalitschkeDepartment of Molecular Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1109-8782
Ian T BaldwinDepartment of Molecular Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany.
Michael E SchaepmanDepartment of Geography, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9627-9565
Meredith C SchumanDepartment of Geography, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.

Funding

Max Planck SocietyNOMIS FoundationUniversity of Zurich
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The application of in-field and aerial spectroscopy to assess functional and phylogenetic variation in plants has led to novel ecological insights and supports global assessments of plant biodiversity. Understanding how plant genetic variation influences reflectance spectra will help harness this potential for biodiversity monitoring and improve understanding of why plants differ in functional responses to environmental change. Here, we use a well-resolved genetic mapping population derived from Multiparent Advanced Generation Inter-cross (MAGIC) lines of Nicotiana attenuata to associate genetic differences with differences in leaf spectra between plants in a field experiment in their natural environment. We analyzed the leaf reflectance spectra using a hand-held spectroradiometer (350-2500 nm) on 616 fully genotyped plants of N. attenuata grown in a randomized block design. We tested three approaches to conducting genome-wide association studies on spectral variants. We introduce a new hierarchical spectral clustering with parallel analysis (HSC-PA) method. This method efficiently captured the variation in our high-dimensional dataset and allowed us to discover a novel association, between a locus on chromosome 1 and the 734-1143 nm spectral range, spanning the red-edge and near-infrared regions that are sensitive to leaf structure and photosynthetic activity. This locus contains a candidate gene annotated as carbonic anhydrase, an enzyme involved in CO₂ hydration and regulation of photosynthetic efficiency, suggesting a physiological link between variation in leaf optical properties and carbon assimilation. In contrast, an approach treating single wavelengths as phenotypes identified genetic signals highly consistent with HSC-PA, but suffered from massive statistical redundancy without pinpointing significant, interpretable features. An index-based approach, which reduces complex spectra to a few dimensionless variables, detected two significant associations for

Indexed as

Genetic VariationGenome, PlantNicotianaPlant LeavesGenome-Wide Association Studyfield spectroscopygenome‐wide association studies (GWAS)hierarchical spectral clustering with parallel analysisleaf reflectancemultiparent advanced generation inter‐cross (MAGIC)Nicotiana attenuata

Identifiers

PMID41968495
PMCPMC13071205

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.