Population structure and the architecture of quantitative traits
(Training)

Contact Martin Lascoux (martin.lascoux@ebc.uu.se)

Unraveling the genetic architecture of quantitative traits remains one of the main challenges in biology: How many loci control a given trait? How are the effects of these loci distributed? How is the genetic architecture of quantitative traits affected by population structure and selection? These are examples of questions to which we can today only give partial answers because of both practical and theoretical reasons.

The course gave an overview of what is known of the genetic architecture of quantitative traits and of the forces shaping it. It then focussed on the effect of population structure and of migration on the architecture of quantitative traits. Finally, methods were presented to detect local adaptation in quantitative traits and identify loci underlying it.