Predicting heterosis in F1 hybrids from parental DNA methylomes (A13)

尽管杂种优势在经济作物育种中的重要性和广泛利用，但这一现象背后的分子机制尚不清楚。越来越多的证据表明，除了遗传因素外，表观遗传因素也有助于杂种优势。在这个项目中，我们对来自等基因但表观遗传不同的亲本的拟南芥表杂交进行了高通量表型和表观基因组分析。我们的目的是测试亲本DNA甲基化状态是否独立于DNA序列变化决定杂交性能以及杂交基因组的功能重塑。

Despite the importance and wide exploitation of heterosis in commercial crop breeding, the molecular mechanisms behind this phenomenon are not well understood. There is growing evidence that, beside genetic, also epigenetic factors contribute to heterosis. In this project, we perform high-throughput phenotypic and epigenomic analyses of a large panel of Arabidopsis thaliana epiHybrids, which were derived from isogenic but epigenetically divergent parents. Our aim is to test whether parental DNA methylation states determine hybrid performance as well as the functional remodelling of hybrid genomes, independently of DNA sequence variation.