ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Functional and Applied Plant Genomics
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1627259
Unraveling yield heterosis in Chinese cabbage hybrid by comparative transcriptomic analysis and LHCB1 gene function analysis
Provisionally accepted
- 1Weifang University, Weifang, China
- 2Weifang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, weifang, China
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Changes in gene expression in plant hybrids are closely related to heterosis. Currently, few reports on key genes that promote yield advantage formation in Chinese cabbage hybrids exist. In the present study, RNA sequencing and virus-induced gene silencing were performed to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of yield advantage formation in a Chinese cabbage hybrid (weichunbai No. 3). In total, 3652 and 2768 genes were differentially expressed between the Chinese cabbage hybrid and its parents in the rosette and mature stages, respectively. These differentially expressed genes among the hybrid and its parents presented diverse expression patterns, and the expression levels of the most differentially expressed genes in the hybrid were higher than one of the parents but lower than another. The horticultural characteristics showed that weichunbai No. 3 hybrid had a greater yield advantage compared with parents. A vital hub gene related to yield, BraA09g035160.3C (an LHCB1 gene), was identified by weighted gene coexpression network analysis. Through virus-induced gene silencing technology, the expression level of the BraA09g035160.3C gene in the hybrid was dramatically decreased, which slowed hybrid growth, indicating that this gene could be related to the yield advantage of the hybrid. These results provide an important reference for in-depth research on the molecular mechanism underlying the yield advantage formation of Chinese cabbage hybrids.
Keywords: Chinese cabbage hybrid, yield advantage, Expression pattern, virus-induced gene silencing, weighted gene coexpression network
Received: 12 May 2025; Accepted: 16 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Han, Han, Xu and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yuanyuan Li, Weifang University, Weifang, China
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