Advances in Research on the Mechanism of Heterosis in Plants

Abstract

Heterosis is a common biological phenomenon in nature. It substantially contributes to the biomass yield and grain yield of plants. Moreover, this phenomenon results in high economic returns in agricultural production. However, the utilization of heterosis far exceeds the level of theoretical research on this phenomenon. In this review, the recent progress in research on heterosis in plants was reviewed from the aspects of classical genetics, parental genetic distance, quantitative trait loci, transcriptomes, proteomes, epigenetics (DNA methylation, histone modification, and small RNA), and hormone regulation. A regulatory network of various heterosis-related genes under the action of different regulatory factors was summarized. This review lays a foundation for the in-depth study of the molecular and physiological aspects of this phenomenon to promote its effects on increasing the yield of agricultural production.

Isolating Linum usitatissimum L. Nuclear DNA Enabled Assembling High-Quality Genome

“…First, sequencing a single plant genome has the merit of separating information on haplotypes, homozygous and heterozygous individuals. Therefore, the gained knowledge can find practical application in molecular research of such phenomena as heterosis [ 77 ]. Second, the employed DNA isolation method allowed us to receive an adequate long reads volume and assemble a contiguous L. usitatissimum genome of line 3896.…”

Estimation and utilization of heterosis and heterobeltosis for yield and yield contributing traits in tossa jute hybrids (F1) derived from diverse germplasms

“…According to different studies, the strength and formation mechanism of heterosis may be different in different biological species, different varieties of the same crop and different traits. The key to heterosis formation lies in the genetic differences between parents and the genetic basis of phenotypic differences between hybrids and their parents originates from differences in genomic composition (Wu et al, 2021). The degree of heterosis increases with the increase of genetic difference (Usatov et al, 2014;Boeven et al, 2020).…”

“…From a study on cotton hybrids, Shahzad et al (2020) found that the over dominance of gene expression levels plays a key role in the early biomass vigor. Liu et al, (2021) determined that the growth heterosis of hybrids is determined by the combined ability of cell division and photosynthesis and the early development of hybrid leaves might enhance the growth heterosis of hybrids. Liu et al, (2021) also reported that cell division and photosynthesis of hybrid plants are important components of growth vigor.…”

Harnessing heterosis and male sterility in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill]: A critical revisit

“…The concept of heterosis is of prime importance in agriculture which in turn is essential for the production of seeds (yield) ( Pandini et al, 2002 ). Heterosis, or sometimes it is referred to synonymously as “hybrid vigor,” is defined as the superiority of F 1 seeds in terms of developmental rate, viability, resistance to diseases, and yield over their parents (two or more) having different genetic constitutions ( Fehr, 1987 ; Pandini et al, 2002 ; Wu et al, 2021 ) that is widely used in various agriculturally important crops like rice and maize, vegetables, and perennials ( Vaillancourt et al, 1995 ; Arcade et al, 1996 ; Kopp et al, 2002 ; Marcelo et al, 2007 ; Chen et al, 2020 ; Wang et al, 2021 ; Yu et al, 2021 ; Zhang et al, 2021 ). The success of the development of hybrids in soybean largely depends on the magnitude and direction with which it is being produced.…”