Dr. Anne Thessen (Associate Professor, Genetics) was co-senior author of a paper titled “Post-GWAS Prioritization of Genome-Phenome Association in Sorghum” in the latest issue of Agronomy.
The study introduces the Sequential SNP Prioritization Algorithm (SSPA) to investigate the genetic underpinnings of two key phenotypes in Sorghum bicolor: maximum canopy height and maximum growth rate. From the abstract: “Empirical evidence, including ontology-based gene function, spatial and temporal expression, and similarity to known homologs demonstrates that SSPA effectively prioritizes SNPs and genes influencing the phenotype of interest, providing valuable insights for functional genetics research.”