Heterosis is very important for breeding hybrid cultivars and is intensively used to increase the productivity of crop plants. But the molecular basis of heterosis is still unrevealed to the scientists. This study selected 51 heterosis associated genes of Arabidopsis of different family on the basis of their high differential expression in a hybrid compared to its midparent value and identified their orthologues in Brassica oleracea. Then the selected B. oleracea genes were characterized based on their structural properties, recognized functions and expression patterns in a cabbage hybrid progeny (Cabbage-36) of crosses between Cabbage-34 and Cabbage-35 accessions. Among these genes, a good number were found to express highly in the hybrid then the midparent value and better parent in some cases. Moreover, these highly expressed genes are mostly related to the yield contributing characters. Cotyledon and young leaf sizes of these three genotypes also well correlated with gene expression. Thus, it can be said that, the identified genes might be associated with the mechanism of heterosis of B. oleracea hybrid and provide a foundation for the exploration of gene regulatory networks associated with the specification of the phenomenon heterosis in the plant life cycle. Subsequently, these genes would be useful resources for molecular hybrid breeding in Brassica crops as well.

• Seung-Yeon Jeong(Department of Horticulture, Sunchon National University)
• Nasar Uddin Ahmed(Department of Horticulture, Sunchon National University)
• Jong-In Park(Department of Horticulture, Sunchon National University)
• Hee-Jeong Jung(Department of Horticulture, Sunchon National University)
• Ill-Sup Nou(Department of Horticulture, Sunchon National University) Corresponding Author