Abstract
Previous studies have shown that heterosis is associated with differential gene expression between hybrids and their parents. In this study, we performed a screen for genes that are differentially expressed between wheat hybrids and their parents in jointing-stage leaves and flag leaves using the differential display technique. Twenty-four differentially expressed cDNA were cloned and sequenced, and their expression patterns were confirmed by reverse-Northern blotting. Sequence analysis and database searches revealed that among the genes that showed differential expression between hybrid and parents were transcription factor genes and genes involved in metabolism, signal transduction, disease resistance, and retrotransposons. These results indicate that hybridization between two parental lines can cause changes in the expression of a variety of genes, and it is concluded that the altered pattern of gene expression in the hybrid may be responsible for the observed heterosis.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Chandler VL, Vaucheret H (2001) Gene activation and gene silencing. Plant Physiol 125:145–148
Chen ZF, Pikaard CS (1997) Transcriptional analysis of nucleolar dominance in polyploid plants: biased expression/silencing of progenitor rRNA genes is developmentally regulated in Brassica. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 94:3442–3447
Chen ZF, Comai L, Pikaard CS (1998) Gene dosage and stochastic effects determine the severity and direction of uniparental ribosomal RNA gene silencing (nucleolar dominance) in Arabidopsis allopolyploids. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 95:14891–14896
Comai L (2000) Genetic and epigenetic interactions in allopolyploid plants. Plant Mol Biol 43:387–399
Duvick DN (1997) Heterosis: feeding people and protecting natural resources. In: Coors JG, Pandey S (eds) Genetics and exploitation of heterosis in crops. American Society of Agronomy, Madison, Wis. pp 19–29
Fedoroff N (2000) Transposons and genome evolution in plants. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 97:7002–7007
Frieman M, Chen ZF, Saez-Vasquez J, Shen LA, Pikaard CS (1999) RNA polymerase I transcription in a Brassica interspecific hybrid and its progenitors: tests of transcription factor involvement in nucleolar dominance. Genetics 152:451–460
Frye CA, Tang D, Innes RW (2001) Negative regulation of defense responses in plants by a conserved MAPKK kinase. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1:373–378
Hoekenga O, Muszynski MG, Cone KC (2000) Developmental patterns of chromatin structure and DNA methylation responsible for epigenetic expression of a maize regulatory gene. Genetics 155:1889–1902
Hollick JB, Chandler VL (2001) Genetic factors required to maintain repression of a paramutagenic maize pl allele. Genetics 157:369–378
Hollick JB, Patterson GI, Asmundsson IM, Chandler VL (2000) Paramutation alters regulatory control of the maize pl locus. Genetics 154:1827–1838
Kashkush K, Feldman M, Levy AA (2002) Gene loss, silencing and activation in a newly synthesized wheat allotetraploid. Genetics 160:1651–1659
Kashkush K, Feldman M, Levy AA (2003) Transcriptional activation of retrotransposons alters the expression of adjacent genes in wheat. Nature Genet 33:102–106
Kumar A, Bennetzen JL (1999) Plant retrotransposons. Annu Rev Genet 33:479–532
Liang P, Pardee AB (1992) Differential display of eukaryotic messager RNA by means of the polymerase chain reaction. Science 257:967–971
Masterson J (1994) Stomatal size in fossil plants: evidence for polyploidy in majority of angiosperms. Science 264:421–423
Ni Z, Q Sun, Z Liu, L Wu, X Wang (2000) Identification of a hybrid-specific expressed gene encoding novel RNA-binding protein in wheat seedling leaves using differential display of mRNA. Mol Gen Genet 263:934–938
Pikaard CS (2000) Nucleolar dominance: uniparental gene silencing on a multi-megabase scale in generic hybrids. Plant Mol Biol 43:163–177
Reddy ASN, Day IS, Narasimhulu SB, Safadi F, Reddy VS, Golovkin M, Harnly MJ (2002) Isolation and Characterization of a novel calmodulin-binding protein from potato. J Biol Chem 6:4206–4214
Siegfried Z, Eden S, Mendelsoln M, Feng X, Tsuberi B and Cedar H (1999) DNA methylation represses transcription in vivo. Nature Genet 22:203–206
Sun QX, Ni ZF, Liu ZY (1999) Differential gene expression between wheat hybrids and their parental inbreds in seedling leaves. Euphytica 106:117–123
Tsaftaris SA (1995) Molecular aspects of heterosis in plants. Physiologia Plantarum 94:362–370
Von der Kammer H, Albrecht C, Mayhaus M, Hoffmann B, Stanke G, Mnitsch R (1999) Identification of genes regulated by muscarinic acetylcholine receptors: application of an improved and statistically comprehensive mRNA differential display technique. Nucleic Acids Res 27:2211–2218
Wendel JF (2000) Genome evolution in polyploids. Plant Mol Biol 42:225–249
Wu LM, Ni ZF, Wang ZK, Lin Z, Sun QX (2001) Relationship between differential gene expression patterns of multigene families and heterosis in a wheat diallel crosses. Acta Genetica Sinica 28:256–266
Xiong LZ, Yang GP, Xu CG, Zhang QF, Saghai Maroof MA (1998) Relationships of differential gene expression in leaves with heterosis and heterozygosity in a rice diallel cross. Mol Breeding 4:129–136
Xiong LZ, Xu CG, Saghai Maroof MA, Zhang Qifa (1999) Patterns of cytosine methylation in an elite rice hybrid and its parental lines, detected by a methylation-sensitive amplification polymorphism technique. Mol Gen Genet 261:439–446
Acknowledgements
This work was financially supported by the State Key Basic Research and Development Plan of China (2001CB1088), the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (39925026) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (30270824)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Communicated by R. Hagemann
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wu, L.M., Ni, Z.F., Meng, F.R. et al. Cloning and characterization of leaf cDNAs that are differentially expressed between wheat hybrids and their parents. Mol Genet Genomics 270, 281–286 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00438-003-0919-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00438-003-0919-y