QTL Analysis of Anthocyanin Expression in Brassica rapa – Max Wilson, Jaffna Mathiaparanam, John Riley

Anthocyanin pigmentation is used as a quantitative trait to study genetics in educational settings. We are conducting a Quantitative Trait Locus (QTL) analysis to identify the genes involved in expression of anthocyanin pigments in hypocotyls of rapid-cycling Brassica rapa. Relative pigment intensities will be assessed using a colorimetric swatch that pilot experiments suggest will span the range of values observed among two B. rapa recombinant inbred populations. Candidate loci identified through QTL analysis will be evaluated by sequence comparisons of B. rapa and Arabidopisis thaliana gene models and functional annotations in anticipation that we will discover loci that are likely responsible for the heritable response to selection imposed by students in the course of widely-used laboratory exercises.