BSA-Seq

Bulked segregant analysis (BSA) was developed as a method for rapidly identifying DNA markers associated with a trait of interest more than three decades ago. Recent application of next-generation sequencing technology to BSA (BSA-Seq) allows the quick genome-wide detection of all trait-associated genomic regions for both qualitative traits of simple inheritance and complex quantitative traits in segregating populations. Statistical analysis of BSA-Seq data is required for the identification of such trait-associated genomic regions. In this chapter, we highlight three major algorithms for BSA-Seq data analysis and compared their detection power using a rice cold tolerance dataset.