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Analysis of institutional authors

Garcia-Abadillo, JulianAuthor

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July 31, 2025
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Article

Optimizing the single-step model for predicting fumonisins resistance in maize hybrids accounting for the genotype-by-environment interaction

Publicated to: Frontiers in Genetics. 16 1475452- - 2025-07-02 16(), DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2025.1475452

Authors:

Evangelista, JSPC; Dias, KOD; Pastina, MM; Chaves, S; Guimaraes, LJM; Hidalgo, J; Garcia-Abadillo, J; Persa, R; Queiroz, VAV; da Silva, DD; Bhering, LL; Jarquin, D
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Affiliations

Embrapa Milho & Sorgo, Sete Lagoas, MG, Brazil - Author
Univ Fed Vicosa, Dept Biol Geral, Campus Univ, Vicosa, MG, Brazil - Author
Univ Florida, Agron Dept, Gainesville, FL 32611 USA - Author
Univ Georgia, Dept Anim & Dairy Sci, Athens, GA 30602 USA - Author
Univ Politecn Madrid UPM, Ctr Biotecnol & Genomica Plantas, Madrid, Spain - Author
Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Genet, Escolha Super Agr Luiz Queiroz, Sao Paulo, Brazil - Author
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Abstract

In Brazil, disease outbreaks in plant cultivars are common in tropical zones. For example, the fungus Fusarium verticillioides produces mycotoxins called fumonisins (FUMO) which are harmful to human and animal health. Besides the genetic component, the expression of this polygenic trait is regulated by interactions between genes and environmental factors (G x E). Genomic selection (GS) emerges as a promising approach to address the influence of multiple loci on resistance. We examined different manners to conduct the prediction of FUMO contamination using genomic and pedigree data, and combinations of these two via the single step model (B-matrix) which also offers the possibility of increasing training set sizes. This is the first study to apply the B-matrix approach for predicting FUMO in tropical maize breeding programs. Our research introduced a cross-validation approach to optimize the hyper-parameter w, which represents the fraction of total additive variance captured by the markers. We demonstrated the importance of selecting optimal w by environment in unbalanced datasets. A total of 13 predictive models considering General Combining Ability (GCA) and Specific Combining Ability (SCA) effects, resulted from five linear predictors and three different covariance structures including the single-step approach. Two cross-validation scenarios were considered to evaluate the model's proficiency: CV1 simulated the prediction of completely untested hybrids, where the individuals in the validation set had no phenotypic records in the training set; and CV2 simulated the prediction of partially tested hybrids, where individuals had been evaluated in some environments but not in the target environment. Results showed that using the B-matrix in the five tested linear models increased the predictive ability compared to pedigree or genomic information. Under CV1, increasing training set sizes exhibit superior predictive accuracy. On the other hand, under CV2 the advantages of increasing the training set size are unclear and the improvements are due to better covariance structures. These insights can be applied to plant breeding programs where the GCA, SCA, and G x E interactions are of interest and pedigree information is accessible, but constraints related to genotyping costs for the entire population exist.
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Keywords

ContaminationFull pedigreeFumonisins resistanceFusarium-verticillioidesGenetic evaluationGenomic predictionInheritancMaize hybrid predictionPerformancePlant breedingPopulationsSelectionSingle-step modeSingle-step modelTraits

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Frontiers in Genetics due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2025, it was in position 79/192, thus managing to position itself as a Q2 (Segundo Cuartil), in the category Genetics & Heredity. Notably, the journal is positioned en el Cuartil Q2 para la agencia Scopus (SJR) en la categoría Genetics.

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Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2026-04-02:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 2.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 2 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 1.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 1 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
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Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Brazil; Georgia; United States of America.

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Awards linked to the item

The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research and/or publication of this article. This research was supported by FAPEMIG (Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa de Minas Gerais), CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico), CAPES (Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior), and Embrapa (Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation). This study was also financed in part by CAPES (Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior - Brasil - Finance Code 001).
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