Root growth and development has become an important research topic for breeders and researchers based on a growing need to adapt plants to changing and more demanding environmental conditions worldwide. Over the last few years, genome-wide association studies (GWASs) became an important tool to identify the link between traits in the field and their genetic background. Here we give an overview of the current literature concerning GWASs performed on root system architecture (RSA) in plants. We summarize which root traits and approaches have been used for GWAS, mentioning their respective success rate towards a successful gene discovery. Furthermore, we zoom in on the current technical hurdles in root phenotyping and GWAS, and discuss future possibilities in this field of research.

中文翻译：

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通过全基因组关联研究利用根系体系中的自然变异。

根系生长和发育已成为育种人员和研究人员的重要研究课题，其基础是使植物适应全球变化和要求更高的环境条件的日益增长的需求。在过去的几年中，全基因组关联研究（GWASs）成为鉴定田间性状与其遗传背景之间联系的重要工具。在这里，我们概述了有关在植物的根系统架构（RSA）上执行的GWAS的当前文献。我们总结了哪些根性状和方法已用于GWAS，并提到了它们各自对成功基因发现的成功率。此外，我们将重点介绍根表型和GWAS的当前技术障碍，并讨论该研究领域的未来可能性。