# Characterizing the complex underpinnings of genetic background effects

> **NIH NIH R35** · UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA · 2021 · $412,500

## Abstract

Project Summary
The long-term goal of this research program is to determine the genetic and molecular
mechanisms that cause spontaneous and induced mutations to show different effects across
genetically distinct individuals. These `background effects' are important to human health
because they can complicate efforts to predict, prevent, and treat disease based on
personalized genomic data. Although background effects are known to result from genetic
interactions between mutations and standing polymorphisms, their underlying genetic
architectures and molecular mechanisms have only begun to be characterized. Our recent work
in budding yeast suggests that background effects are typically caused by multiple loci that
interact not only with a mutation, but also each other. This finding could have important
implications for efforts to map the genetic basis of diseases and other traits that are commonly
influenced by mutations, and thus its generality and underlying mechanisms require deeper
investigation. Here, we will extend our work on background effects in yeast using emerging
technologies for high-throughput phenotyping and genome editing, as well as statistically
powerful linkage mapping. Our work will address three main questions: (1) What are the
prevalence and forms of background effects? (2) What genetic complexities and types of
epistasis underlie background effects? And, (3) what are the properties of genes and genetic
variants that cause background effects? This work will produce detailed insights into
background effects that should advance efforts to understand and predict the relationship
between genotype and phenotype in humans and model organisms.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10071967
- **Project number:** 5R35GM130381-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Ian Michael Ehrenreich
- **Activity code:** R35 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $412,500
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-01-01 → 2023-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10071967

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10071967, Characterizing the complex underpinnings of genetic background effects (5R35GM130381-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10071967. Licensed CC0.

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