Understanding the genetic basis of rice heterosis: Advances and prospects
Sinan Zhang,
Xuehui Huang,
Bin Han
Affiliations
Sinan Zhang
Shanghai Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Sciences, College of Life Sciences, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200234, China
Xuehui Huang
Shanghai Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Sciences, College of Life Sciences, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200234, China; Corresponding authors.
Bin Han
National Center for Gene Research, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200233, China; Corresponding authors.
Heterosis, which describes the superior vigor and yield of F1 hybrids with respect to their parents, is observed in many rice hybrid crosses. The exploitation of heterosis is a great leap in the history of rice breeding. With advances in genomics and genetics, high-resolution mapping and functional identification of heterosis-associated loci have been performed in rice. Here we summarize advances in understanding the genetic basis of grain yield heterosis in hybrid rice and provide a vision for the genetic study and breeding application of rice heterosis in the future.
