Arabidopsis thaliana strain:Ler, C24 Raw sequence reads

Hybrid vigour has been used for decades in crop industries, especially in the production of maize and rice. Hybrid varieties usually exceed their parents in plant biomass and seed yield. The molecular basis of heterosis is not fully understood. In this project, we studied heterosis in Arabidopsis hybrids derived from crossing Ler and C24 accessions at early stages of seedling development. We found that early heterosis might be associated with non-additive gene expression that resulted from earlier changes in gene expression in the hybrids relative to the parents. The non-additively expressed genes are involved in metabolic pathways, including photosynthesis, critical for plant growth. The early up-regulation of genes involved in energy production in hybrids may be associated with heterosis in the young seedlings that could be essential for biomass heterosis at later developmental stages of the plant.