“Powerful one-dimensional scan to detect heterotic quantitative trait loci”—this is the title of ae paper by Jochen C. Reif (FAIRagro TA 1, IPK) and others, which has been published in the journal “Nature Communications”. What is it about? To meet the world’s growing demand for food, increasing crop yields through heterosis is of crucial importance. A deep understanding of the genetic basis of heterosis has led to the development of a quantitative genetic model that accounts for both dominance and epistatic effects. In this article, the authors describe the associated computational challenges and the development of a method to address them.