Although hybrid crop varieties are among the most popular agricultural innovations, the
rationale for hybrid crop breeding is sometimes misunderstood. Hybrid breeding is slower …

All natural plant species are evolved from ancient polyploids. Polyloidization plays an
important role in plant genome evolution, species divergence and crop domestication. We …

Polyploidy is a key mechanism of genome evolution and speciation, particularly in plants.
Many aspects of polyploidy have been elucidated with the tools that have become available …

Background In maize hybrid breeding, complementary pools of parental lines with reshuffled
genetic variants are established for superior hybrid performance. To comprehensively …

Heterosis, also known as hybrid vigour, is widespread in plants and animals, but the
molecular bases for this phenomenon remain elusive. Recent studies in hybrids and …

It has long been recognized that hybridization and polyploidy are prominent processes in
plant evolution. Although classically recognized as significant in speciation and adaptation …

Polyploidy, the condition of possessing more than two complete genomes in a cell, has
intrigued biologists for almost a century. Polyploidy is found in many plants and some animal …

Although heterosis, or hybrid vigor, is widely exploited in agriculture, a complete description
of its molecular underpinnings has remained elusive despite extensive investigation. It …

Epigenetic variation is likely to contribute to the phenotypic plasticity and adaptative capacity
of plant species, and may be especially important for long‐lived organisms with complex life …

Intense artificial selection over the last 100 years has produced elite maize (Zea mays)
inbred lines that combine to produce high-yielding hybrids. To further our understanding of …