Regulation of heterosis-associated gene expression complementation in maize hybrids.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Classical genetic concepts to explain heterosis attribute the superiority of F₁-hybrids over their homozygous parents to the complementation of unfavorable by beneficial alleles (dominance) or to heterozygote advantage (overdominance). Here we analyze 112 intermated B73xMo17 recombinant inbred lines of maize and their backcrosses to their original parents B73 and Mo17 to obtain hybrids with an average heterozygosity of ~ 50%. This genetic architecture allows studying the influence of homozygous and heterozygous genomic regions on gene expression in hybrids.

Results

We demonstrate that single parent expression (SPE) complementation explains between - 8% and 29% of the mid-parent heterotic variance in these hybrids. In this expression pattern, consistent

SUBMITTER: Pitz M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12455817 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature