WE WILL CONDUCT AN INNOVATIVE ANALYSIS OF MULTISCALE DATA, INCLUDING PHENOTYPIC, GENOMIC AND METABOLOMIC DATA, TO ADVANCE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE GENETIC ARCHITECTURE BEHIND AGRONOMICALLY IMPORTANT TRAITS IN CITRUS, SUCH AS TITRATABLE ACIDITY, SOLUBLE SOLID CONTENT, RIND COLOR, RIND THICKNESS, FLESH COLOR, SEEDINESS, MATURITY DATE, FRUIT WEIGHT, TREE HEIGHT, CANOPY VOLUME, CANOPY SURFACE AREA, PEST AND DISEASE RESISTANCE, AND YIELD. THIS PROJECT WILL GENERATE NEW METABOLOMIC DATA FOR 200+ ACCESSIONS SELECTED FROM THE CITRUS VARIETY COLLECTION (CVC) AT UC RIVERSIDE, FOR WHICH THE GENOMIC DATA ARE READILY AVAILABLE. A NOVEL AND ADVANCED METHODOLOGY WILL BE DEVELOPED FOR A JOINT ANALYSIS OF THE MULTI-OMIC DATASETS (GENOMIC AND METABOLOMIC DATA) TO ACCURATELY IDENTIFY GENETIC DETERMINANTS FOR KEY CITRUS TRAITS. THE NEW MULTISCALE METHODOLOGY WILL FACILITATE GENETIC ASSOCIATION STUDIES USING MULTI-OMIC DATA, ESTABLISHING A NEW STANDARD FOR THE DISCOVERY OF NOVEL GENETIC VARIANTS RELATED TO SPECIFIC PHENOTYPES IN ANY KNOWN ORGANISM. THE PROJECT WILL GENERATE A MASSIVE SET OF NOVEL MULTISCALE DATA FOR THE UCR CVC AND USDA AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH SERVICE CITRUS GERMPLASM REPOSITORY, AND WILL ALSO IDENTIFY NOVEL TRAIT-ASSOCIATED VARIANTS AND BIOLOGICAL PATHWAYS IN CITRUS. THE NEW DATA AND KNOWLEDGE WILL ADD CRUCIAL INFORMATION ON GENETIC VALUE AND BREEDING POTENTIAL TO A NATIONAL GERMPLASM COLLECTION THAT IS ALREADY A SOURCE OF RESEARCH MATERIALS FOR DIVERSE STUDIES.