Idiosyncratic and dose-dependent epistasis drives variation in tomato fruit size.

ABSTRACT: Epistasis between genes is traditionally studied with mutations that eliminate protein activity, but most natural genetic variation is in cis-regulatory DNA and influences gene expression and function quantitatively. In this study, we used natural and engineered cis-regulatory alleles in a plant stem-cell circuit to systematically evaluate epistatic relationships controlling tomato fruit size. Combining a promoter allelic series with two other loci, we collected over 30,000 phenotypic data points from 46 genotypes to quantify how allele strength transforms epistasis. We revealed a saturating dose-dependent relationship but also allele-specific idiosyncratic interactions, including between alleles driving a step change in fruit size during domestication. Our approach and findings expose an

SUBMITTER: Aguirre L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10602613 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature