Decoding heterosis in rice: from classical theories to modern omics insights.
Huang W, Zhou T, Yang Y, Fu Z, Yan H
Summary
PubMedThis review examines why hybrid rice plants outperform their parent varieties — a phenomenon called hybrid vigor — by tracing the science from century-old theories to cutting-edge genomic tools. Understanding what drives this vigor could help breed higher-yielding rice crops to feed a growing global population.
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Key Findings
Heterosis (hybrid vigor) in rice is explained by three classical genetic theories — dominance, overdominance, and epistasis — none of which alone fully accounts for the observed yield gains.
Modern omics approaches (genomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics) have revealed that gene expression changes and epigenetic reprogramming in F1 hybrids play a central role in boosting plant performance.
Integrating classical breeding theory with multi-omics data offers a roadmap for rationally designing high-yielding hybrid rice varieties rather than relying on trial-and-error crossing.
Original Abstract
Heterosis, commonly referred to as hybrid vigor, describes the biological phenomenon by which F
This connects to 9 other discoveries — 1 species, 3 topics, 5 related articles
Species Mentioned
Rice is a cereal grain and in its domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species Oryza sativa —or, much less commonly, Oryza glaberrima. Asian rice was domesticated in China some 13,500 to 8,200 y...
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