The Genomic Architecture of Flowering Time Varies Across Space and Time in Mimulus guttatus.

Abstract

The degree to which genomic architecture varies across space and time is central to the evolution of genomes in response to natural selection. Bulked-segregant mapping combined with pooled sequencing provides an efficient means to estimate the effect of genetic variants on quantitative traits. We develop a novel likelihood framework to identify segregating variation within multiple populations and generations while accommodating estimation error on a sample- and SNP-specific basis. We use this method to map loci for flowering time within natural populations of Mimulus guttatus, collecting the early- and late-flowering plants from each of three neighboring populations and two consecutive generations. Structural variants, such as inversions, and genes from multiple flowering-time pathways exhibit the strongest associations with flowering time. We find appreciable variation in genetic effects on flowering time across both time and space; the greatest differences evident between populations, where numerous factors (environmental variation, genomic background, and private polymorphisms) likely contribute to heterogeneity. However, the changes across years within populations clearly identify genotype-by-environment interactions as an important influence on flowering time variation.