About the Authors

Sapna Kumari

Affiliation Department of Mathematical Sciences, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan, United States of America

Jeff Nie

Affiliation Morgridge Institute for Research, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America

Huann-Sheng Chen

Affiliation Statistical Methodology and Applications Branch, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America

Hao Ma

Affiliation Division of Animal and Nutritional Sciences, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, United States of America

Ron Stewart

Affiliation Morgridge Institute for Research, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America

Xiang Li

Affiliation Department of Computer Science, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan, United States of America

Meng-Zhu Lu

Affiliation State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, Research Institute of Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, P.R. China

William M. Taylor

Affiliation Department of Computer Science, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America

Hairong Wei

hairong@mtu.edu

Affiliations Department of Mathematical Sciences, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan, United States of America, Department of Computer Science, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan, United States of America, Biotechnology Research Center, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan, United States of America, School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan, United States of America

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: HW. Performed the experiments: SK JN HSC HM RS XL MZL WMT HW. Analyzed the data: SK JN HSC HM RS XL MZL WMT HW. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: SK. Wrote the paper: HW SK.