Epigenetics and Heterosis in Crop Plants

Ryder, Peter; McKeown, Peter C.; Fort, Antoine; Spillane, Charles

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-14760-0_4

Cited by 19 publications

(19 citation statements)

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“…According to the dominance hypothesis, dominant alleles are favored over recessive alleles for the growth and development of individuals [51]. Self-crossing or inbreeding of these heterozygous individuals will therefore increase the production of homozygotes in hybrids and expose the harmful traits represented by recessive genes, which will lead to the hybrid depression and significantly reduce the probability of heterosis [52–56]. Additionally, Li (2007) proposed that in F 1 hybrid of Gerbera jamesonii , the average values of flower diameter, pedicel length and ray floret were significantly smaller than those of their parents, which may be due to the one-way selection in the process of breeding and the large amount of non-additive effects reserved by asexual reproduction on the preservation of selected cultivars.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phenotypic variation of floral organs in Malus using frequency distribution functions

et al. 2019

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BackgroundPhenotypic diversity of floral organs plays an important role in plant systematic taxonomy and genetic variation studies. Previous research have focused on the direction of variation but disregarded its degree. Phenotypic variation (including directions and degrees) of 17 floral traits from wild to cultivated crabapples were explored by comparing their distributions and deviations in three different dimensions: floral organ number, size, and the shape.ResultsExcept for petal number, petal length / petal width, and sepal length / sepal width, the analyzed floral traits of cultivated crabapples all showed downward distributed box bodies in box plot analysis and left deviations of fitted curves in frequency distribution function analysis when compared to the wild, which revealed consistent variation directions of petaloid conversion (pistils or stamens → petals), size miniaturization (large → small), and shape narrowness (petal shape: circular → elliptic; sepal shape: triangular → lanceolate). However, only seven floral traits exhibited significant differences in box plot analysis, while all of the traits in frequency distribution function analysis were obviously offset. The variation degrees were quantitatively characterized by sizing traits > shaping traits > numbering traits and by horizontal dimensions > radial dimensions.ConclusionsFrequency distribution function analysis was more sensitive than the box plot analysis, which constructed a theoretical basis for Malus flower type breeding and would provide a new quantitative method for future evaluation of floral variation among different groups of angiosperms at large.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phenotypic variation of floral organs in Malus using frequency distribution functions

et al. 2019

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“…sRNAs have been hypothesized to play key roles in plant responses to environmental conditions, transgressive inheritance and heterosis (Greaves et al, 2015;Ryder et al, 2014;Li et al, 2017). However, deciphering their role in crops such as maize has been limited by our incomplete picture of the sources of sRNA variation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unfortunately, we still lack a coherent molecular mechanism to explain the sources of non-additive inheritance patterns of gene expression in hybrids (Birchler et al, 2010). However, a variety of studies have found evidence that epigenetic factors including sRNAs and DNA methylation play a role in heterosis [reviewed in (Greaves et al, 2015;Ryder et al, 2014;Groszmann et al, 2013)]. Small RNAs are promising candidates for modulating the epigenome and gene expression in hybrids.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation and inheritance of small RNAs in maize inbreds and F₁ hybrids

Crisp

Hammond

Zhou

et al. 2019

Preprint

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Small RNAs (sRNAs) regulate gene expression, play important roles in epigenetic pathways, and have been hypothesised to contribute to hybrid vigor in plants. Prior investigations have provided valuable insights into associations between sRNAs and heterosis, often using a single hybrid genotype or tissue. However, our understanding of the role of sRNAs and their potential value to plant breeding are limited by an incomplete picture of sRNA variation between diverse genotypes and development stages. Here, we provide a deep exploration of sRNA variation and inheritance among a panel of 108 maize samples spanning five tissues from eight inbred parents and 12 hybrid genotypes, covering a spectrum of heterotic groups, genetic variation, and levels of heterosis for various traits. We document substantial developmental and genotypic influences on sRNA expression, with varying patterns for 21-nt, 22-nt and 24-nt sRNAs. We provide a detailed view of the distribution of sRNAs in the maize genome, revealing a complex make-up that also shows developmental plasticity, particularly for 22-nt sRNAs. sRNAs exhibited substantially more variation between inbreds as compared to observed variation for gene expression. In hybrids, we identify locus-specific examples of non-additive inheritance, mostly characterised as partial or complete dominance, but rarely outside the parental range. However, the global abundance of 21-nt, 22-nt and 24-nt sRNAs varies very little between inbreds and hybrids, suggesting that hybridization affects sRNA expression principally at specific loci rather than on a global scale. This study provides a valuable resource for understanding the potential role of sRNAs in hybrid vigor.One-sentence summaryCharacterizing the roles of development and genotype in driving expression variation of different small RNA populations in maize inbreds and their F1 hybrids.

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“…Although heterosis has been known and practically used for more than a century [12,13], many of its mechanisms are still largely unknown. However, in recent years, the use of new tools and approaches such as transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and epigenomics is generating better knowledge of the phenomenon [14]. Heterosis in melon was investigated, but results were strictly dependent on parents and traits considered.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Heterosis in Melon (Cucumis melo L.)

Napolitano

Terzaroli

Kashyap

et al. 2020

Plants

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Heterosis is the superiority of an F1 hybrid over its parents. Since this phenomenon is still unclear in melon, a half diallel experiment based on eight genetically distant breeding lines was conducted in six environments of Central Italy, assessing commercially important traits: yield, total soluble solids (TSS), and days to ripening (DTR). To estimate the additive (general combining ability; GCA) and the non-additive gene effects (specific combining ability; SCA), yield was analyzed by Griffing’s methods two and four, and the results were compared to the GGE (Genotype plus Genotype by Environment interaction) biplot methodology; TSS and earliness were evaluated only by Griffing’s method four. Overall, GCAs were significantly more relevant than SCAs for all examined traits. Least square means (LsM), mid-parent heterosis (MPH), best-parent heterosis (BPH), as well as Euclidean and Mahalanobis’ distances were calculated and compared with the genetic distance (GD). As a few correlations were found statistically significant (only for TSS), it was difficult to predict the value of a hybrid combination only by knowing the genetic distance of its parents. Despite this, heterosis was observed, indicating either the presence of epistatic effects (additive × additive interactions) and/or an underestimate of SCAs embedded within Griffing’s method. The significant Env × Entries source of variation suggests development of hybrids in specific environments. The results are discussed with a breeding perspective.

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Epigenetics and Heterosis in Crop Plants

Cited by 19 publications

References 96 publications

Phenotypic variation of floral organs in Malus using frequency distribution functions

Phenotypic variation of floral organs in Malus using frequency distribution functions

Variation and inheritance of small RNAs in maize inbreds and F₁ hybrids

Exploring Heterosis in Melon (Cucumis melo L.)

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Epigenetics and Heterosis in Crop Plants

Cited by 19 publications

References 96 publications

Phenotypic variation of floral organs in Malus using frequency distribution functions

Phenotypic variation of floral organs in Malus using frequency distribution functions

Variation and inheritance of small RNAs in maize inbreds and F1 hybrids

Exploring Heterosis in Melon (Cucumis melo L.)

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Variation and inheritance of small RNAs in maize inbreds and F₁ hybrids