Systems genetics of complex traits in Drosophila melanogaster. Author Julien Ayroles, Mary Carbone, Eric Stone, Katherine Jordan, Richard Lyman, Michael Magwire, Stephanie Rollmann, Laura Duncan, Faye Lawrence, Robert Anholt, Trudy Mackay Publication Year 2009 Type Journal Article Abstract Determining the genetic architecture of complex traits is challenging because phenotypic variation arises from interactions between multiple, environmentally sensitive alleles. We quantified genome-wide transcript abundance and phenotypes for six ecologically relevant traits in D. melanogaster wild-derived inbred lines. We observed 10,096 genetically variable transcripts and high heritabilities for all organismal phenotypes. The transcriptome is highly genetically intercorrelated, forming 241 transcriptional modules. Modules are enriched for transcripts in common pathways, gene ontology categories, tissue-specific expression and transcription factor binding sites. The high degree of transcriptional connectivity allows us to infer genetic networks and the function of predicted genes from annotations of other genes in the network. Regressions of organismal phenotypes on transcript abundance implicate several hundred candidate genes that form modules of biologically meaningful correlated transcripts affecting each phenotype. Overlapping transcripts in modules associated with different traits provide insight into the molecular basis of pleiotropy between complex traits. Keywords Animals, Female, Male, Base Sequence, Molecular Sequence Data, Gene Regulatory Networks, Genetic Variation, Drosophila melanogaster, Phenotype, RNA, Messenger, Chromosome Mapping, Amino Acid Sequence, Genetics, Population, Quantitative Trait, Heritable, Tissue Distribution, Animals, Inbred Strains, Sequence Homology, Amino Acid Journal Nat Genet Volume 41 Issue 3 Pages 299-307 Date Published 03/2009 Alternate Journal Nat. Genet. Google ScholarBibTeXEndNote X3 XML