Genetic Design and Statistical Power of Nested Association Mapping in Maize

We investigated the genetic and statistical properties of the nested association mapping (NAM) design currently being implemented in maize (26 diverse founders and 5000 distinct immortal genotypes) to dissect the genetic basis of complex quantitative traits. The NAM design simultaneously exploits the advantages of both linkage analysis and association mapping. We demonstrated the power of NAM for high-power cost-effective genome scans through computer simulations based on empirical marker data and simulated traits with different complexities. With common-parent-specific (CPS) markers genotyped for the founders and the progenies, the inheritance of chromosome segments nested within two adjacent CPS markers was…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Award: 9872631
• UD
  U.S. Department of Agriculture
• CS
  Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service
• AR
  Agricultural Research Service