Gene expression variation across genetically identical individuals predicts reproductive traits.

ABSTRACT: In recent decades, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been the major approach to understand the biological basis of individual differences in traits and diseases. However, GWAS approaches have limited predictive power to explain individual differences, particularly for complex traits and diseases in which environmental factors play a substantial role in their etiology. Indeed, individual differences persist even in genetically identical individuals, although fully separating genetic and environmental causation is difficult in most organisms. To understand the basis of individual differences in the absence of genetic differences, we measured two quantitative reproductive traits in 180 genetically identical young adult Caenorhabditis elegans roundworms in a shared environment

SUBMITTER: Webster AK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12404612 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature