Differential gene expression between wheat hybrids and their parental inbreds in seedling leaves

Differential display of mRNA was used to analyze the differences of gene expression in seedling leaves between heterotic hybrid/nonheterotic hybrid and their parental inbreds in order to study the molecular basis of heterosis in wheat. The results indicated that patterns of gene expression in hybrids differ significantly from their parents. Both quantitative and qualitative differences were observed. The quantitative differences include gene over-expression, gene under-expression in hybrid and dominant expression of highly-expressed parental genes in hybrids. The qualitative differences include silencing in hybrids of genes expressed either in male or female parent, and silencing in hybrids of genes expressed in both parents. Expression in hybrid of genes only expressed either in male or female parent was also observed. It was also found that some genes expressed at high level in heterotic hybrid were underexpressed or expressed at low level in nonheterotic hybrid. One differentially expressed cDNA fragment 4B was cloned and sequenced after being confirmed through Northern blot analysis. Homology search in GenBank proved that the cDNA fragment is a new sequence. The selection of primers for differential RNA display in wheat and the relationship between wheat heterosis and alteration of gene expression in hybrids as compared to their parental inbreds were also discussed.