Expression data from three Japonica varieties and their F1 progenies

Hybrid weakness is an important post zygotic reproductive barrier between natural populations. Expression of hybrid weakness can lead to significant decrease in yield and even lethality and is thus an undesirable agronomic trait. We observed that F1 hybrids produced from crossing between any two of three Japonica varieties(CH7, CH8, CH9) exhibit hybrid weakness phenotype. Exploring the molecular mechanism underlying hybrid weakness in important crops like rice is worthy. We used microarrays to obtain a global picture of gene expression changes that occurred in the F1 hybrids with characteristic hybrid weakness phenotype. Whole rice plant samples were selected at tillering stage includ parental lines (CH7, CH8, CH9) and F1 hybrids (CH7/8, CH7/9, CH8/9). Three biological replicates were used for each sample. Total RNA extraction, cDNA and labelled cRNA synthesis and Affymetrix expression GeneChip hybridization were conducted by CapitalBio Technology (Beijing, China).