Traditional genetic studies focus on identifying genetic variants associated with the mean difference in a quantitative trait. Because genetic variants also influence phenotypic variation via heterogeneity, we conducted a variance‐heterogeneity genome‐wide association study to examine the contribution of variance heterogeneity to oil‐related quantitative traits. We identified 79 unique variance‐controlling single nucleotide polymorphisms (vSNPs) from the sequences of 77 candidate variance‐heterogeneity genes for 21 oil‐related traits using the Levene test (P  < 1.0 × 10⁻⁵). About 30% of the candidate genes encode enzymes that work in lipid metabolic pathways, most of which define clear expression variance quantitative trait loci. Of the vSNPs specifically associated with the genetic variance heterogeneity of oil concentration, 89% can be explained by additional linked mean‐effects genetic variants. Furthermore, we demonstrated that gene × gene interactions play important roles in the formation of variance heterogeneity for fatty acid compositional traits. The interaction pattern was validated for one gene pair (GRMZM2G035341 and GRMZM2G152328 ) using yeast two‐hybrid and bimolecular fluorescent complementation analyses. Our findings have implications for uncovering the genetic basis of hidden additive genetic effects and epistatic interaction effects, and we indicate opportunities to stabilize efficient breeding and selection of high‐oil maize (Zea mays L.).

中文翻译：

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影响玉米变异异质性的遗传变异和潜在机制。

传统的遗传研究侧重于确定与定量性状的平均差异相关的遗传变异。由于遗传变异也会通过异质性影响表型变异，因此我们进行了方差-异质性全基因组关联研究，以检验方差异质性对石油相关定量性状的贡献。我们使用Levene检验从21个与油有关的性状的77个候选变异异质性基因序列中鉴定了79个独特的变异控制单核苷酸多态性（vSNP）（P  <1.0×10 ^-5）。大约30％的候选基因编码在脂质代谢途径中起作用的酶，其中大多数定义了明确的表达差异定量性状基因座。在与油浓度的遗传方差异质性特别相关的vSNP中，有89％可以通过附加的均值效应遗传变异来解释。此外，我们证明了基因×基因相互作用在脂肪酸组成性状的变异异质性形成中起重要作用。对一个基因对（GRMZM2G035341和GRMZM2G152328）的相互作用模式进行了验证）使用酵母双杂交和双分子荧光互补分析。我们的发现对揭示隐藏的累加遗传效应和上位性相互作用效应的遗传基础具有重要意义，并且我们为稳定高油玉米（Zea mays L.）的有效育种和选择提供了机会。