From QTL to gene: C. elegans facilitates discoveries of the genetic mechanisms underlying natural variation

• Published in: Trends in genetics Vol. 37; no. 10; pp. 933 - 947
• Main Authors: Evans, Kathryn S., van Wijk, Marijke H., McGrath, Patrick T., Andersen, Erik C., Sterken, Mark G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01-10-2021
• Subjects: Animals; Caenorhabditis elegans; Caenorhabditis elegans - genetics; evolutionary genetics; Genetic Variation - genetics; Models, Animal; Phenotype; QTG; QTL; QTV; quantitative genetics; Quantitative Trait Loci - genetics; QTL; Caenorhabditis elegans; quantitative genetics; QTV; QTG; evolutionary genetics
• ISSN: 0168-9525
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tig.2021.06.005

Although many studies have examined quantitative trait variation across many species, only a small number of genes and thereby molecular mechanisms have been discovered. Without these data, we can only speculate about evolutionary processes that underlie trait variation. Here, we review how quantitative and molecular genetics in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans led to the discovery and validation of 37 quantitative trait genes over the past 15 years. Using these data, we can start to make inferences about evolution from these quantitative trait genes, including the roles that coding versus noncoding variation, gene family expansion, common versus rare variants, pleiotropy, and epistasis play in trait variation across this species.
Innovations in quantitative trait loci mapping and genome editing have led to the discovery and validation of 37 genes and variants underlying phenotypic variation in C. elegans.Numerous recombinant panels and a large collection of wild strains make C. elegans a formidable model to understand quantitative trait variation.Most of the identified quantitative trait genes have paralogs, providing evidence that gene duplication events are important for shaping quantitative traits.Pleiotropy is relatively common among C. elegans quantitative trait genes.