Connecting mathematical models to genomes: Joint estimation of model parameters and genome-wide marker effects on these parameters

Abstract

Motivation: Parameters of mathematical models used in biology may be genotype-specific and regarded as new traits. Therefore, an accurate estimation of these parameters and the association mapping on the estimated parameters can lead to important findings regarding the genetic architecture of biological processes. In this study, a statistical framework for a joint analysis (JA) of model parameters and genome-wide marker effects on these parameters was proposed and evaluated. Results: In the simulation analyses based on different types of mathematical models, the JA inferred the model parameters and identified the responsible genomic regions more accurately than the independent analysis (IA). The JA of real plant data provided interesting insights into photosensitivity, which were uncovered by the IA.