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Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2012, Vol. 12 Issue (11): 1783-1793    DOI: 10.1016/S1671-2927(00)8713
Crop Genetics · Breeding · Germplasm Resources Advanced Online Publication | Current Issue | Archive | Adv Search |
Transcriptomic Analysis of the Highly Heterotic Maize Hybrid Zhengdan 958 and Its Parents During Spikelet and Floscule Differentiation
 LI Zhi-yong, ZHANG Ti-fu, WANG Shou-cai
National Maize Improvement Center/Maize Breeding Engineering Center, Ministry of Education/Key Laboratory of Crop Genomics and Genetic Improvement, Ministry of Agriculture/College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, P.R.China
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摘要  Heterosis plays an important role in crop production and plant evolution. Although heterosis has been widely exploited by plant breeders, the underlying molecular mechanisms are not well understood. We analyzed gene expression of the highly heterotic maize hybrid Zhengdan 958 and its parents, Zheng 58 and Chang 7-2 during spikelet and floscule differentiation using the GeneChip® Maize Genome Array. Pairwise comparison among Zhengdan 958 and its parents at the two stages of immature ear development identfied 1 089 and 1 352 differentially expressed genes. Gene ontology (GO) functional analysis showed that these genes participate in many functional categories, and those encoding response to stress and transcription factor may play important roles in heterosis. Pathway analysis showed that the differentially expressed genes are involved in various metabolic processes, and those participating in lipid metabolism, signal transduction, transport, and catabolism may contribute to heterosis. A non-additive expression pattern was prevalent in genes that were differentially expressed between the hybrid and its parents during both spikelet and floscule differentiation. Because genes that are differentially expressed in a hybrid and its parents could underlie heterosis, nonadditive expression patterns might contribute to the manifestation of heterosis.

Abstract  Heterosis plays an important role in crop production and plant evolution. Although heterosis has been widely exploited by plant breeders, the underlying molecular mechanisms are not well understood. We analyzed gene expression of the highly heterotic maize hybrid Zhengdan 958 and its parents, Zheng 58 and Chang 7-2 during spikelet and floscule differentiation using the GeneChip® Maize Genome Array. Pairwise comparison among Zhengdan 958 and its parents at the two stages of immature ear development identfied 1 089 and 1 352 differentially expressed genes. Gene ontology (GO) functional analysis showed that these genes participate in many functional categories, and those encoding response to stress and transcription factor may play important roles in heterosis. Pathway analysis showed that the differentially expressed genes are involved in various metabolic processes, and those participating in lipid metabolism, signal transduction, transport, and catabolism may contribute to heterosis. A non-additive expression pattern was prevalent in genes that were differentially expressed between the hybrid and its parents during both spikelet and floscule differentiation. Because genes that are differentially expressed in a hybrid and its parents could underlie heterosis, nonadditive expression patterns might contribute to the manifestation of heterosis.
Keywords:  maize      heterosis      microarray      gene expression      Zhengdan 958      spikelet      floscule  
Received: 26 July 2011   Accepted:
Fund: 

This work was supported by the National High-Tech R&D Program of China (2011AA10A103) and the National Basic Research Program of China (2009CB118400).

Corresponding Authors:  Correspondence WANG Shou-cai, Tel/Fax: +86-10-62732409, E-mail: wangshoucai678@sina.com      E-mail:  wangshoucai678@sina.com

Cite this article: 

LI Zhi-yong, ZHANG Ti-fu, WANG Shou-cai. 2012. Transcriptomic Analysis of the Highly Heterotic Maize Hybrid Zhengdan 958 and Its Parents During Spikelet and Floscule Differentiation. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 12(11): 1783-1793.

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