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Comparative expression profiling in meristems of inbred-hybrid triplets of maize based on morphological investigations of heterosis for plant height

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Abstract

Heterosis, the superior performance of hybrids as compared to their parental mean is an agronomically important phenomenon well-described morphologically. However, little is known about its molecular basis. We investigated four genetically unrelated maize (Zea mays L.) inbred lines and their F1 crosses both at the phenotype and transcriptome level, focusing on plant height (PHT) component traits. Substantial mid-parent heterosis (MPH) was found for all parent-hybrid triplets for PHT in the range of 37.9–56.4% in the field and 11.1–39.5% under controlled greenhouse conditions. Analyses of heterosis for number and length of internodes showed two to three times higher MPH in the field as compared to the greenhouse. All three traits exhibited high heritabilities, highest for PHT 95–98%. Two methods for gene expression quantification were applied. High-density cDNA uni-gene microarrays containing 11,827 ESTs were utilized for the selection of differentially expressed genes related to heterosis for PHT. For the four triplets with eight possible parent-hybrid comparisons we identified 434 consistently differentially expressed genes with a p ≤ 0.05. Microarray results were used to verify the dominance/overdominance hypothesis. In our study, more than 50% genes showed overdominance, 26% partial dominance, 12.6% complete dominance and 10.2% additive gene action. Moreover, more consistently differentially expressed genes were detected in related triplets, sharing one parent, than in unrelated triplets. Quantitative RT-PCR was applied in order to validate microarray results. The role of the differentially expressed genes in relation to heterosis for PHT is discussed.

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Abbreviations

Act:

Actin

ANOVA:

Analysis of variance

Cy3:

Cyanine 3

Cy5:

Cyanine 5

CHL P:

Geranyl-geranyl reductase

FDR:

False discovery rate

GASR 1:

Gibberellin-stimulated transcript 1-like rice protein

GO:

Gene ontology assignment

HPH:

High-parent heterosis

INT:

Internode length

MAc1:

Maize actin 1 gene

MPH:

Mid-parent heterosis

NOI:

Number of internodes

PHT:

Plant height

qRT-PCR:

Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction

SOTA:

self-organizing tree algorithm

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Prof. A. E. Melchinger (University of Hohenheim) for providing seeds, Dr. J. Eder, Dr. B. Krützfeld and all technical assistants from LfL Bayern for perfect conduction of field trials, scientists from TUM (Munich, Germany) and Flakkebjerg Research Centre (Denmark) for support and contribution in the discussion of the data, and finally to all groups participating in the DFG “Heterosis in Plants” project for the exchange of the data and profitable cooperation. This work was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG), SPP 1149, Heterosis in Plants (WE 956/6–1).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Breeding, Technical University of Munich, Freising, Germany

    Anna Użarowska, Gerhard Schwarz & Gerhard Wenzel

  2. Department of Bioinformatics, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany

    Barbara Keller & Hans-Peter Piepho

  3. Department of Genetics and Biotechnology, Research Centre Flakkebjerg, Slagelse, Denmark

    Christina Ingvardsen & Thomas Lübberstedt

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  1. Anna Użarowska
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  2. Barbara Keller
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  3. Hans-Peter Piepho
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  4. Gerhard Schwarz
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  5. Christina Ingvardsen
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  6. Gerhard Wenzel
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  7. Thomas Lübberstedt
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Correspondence to Thomas Lübberstedt.

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Użarowska, A., Keller, B., Piepho, HP. et al. Comparative expression profiling in meristems of inbred-hybrid triplets of maize based on morphological investigations of heterosis for plant height. Plant Mol Biol 63, 21–34 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-006-9069-z

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