To provide an insight into the molecular basis of heterosis, differential display of mRNA was used to analyze the difference of gene expression between wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) heterotic hybrid A, nonheterotic hybrid B and their parental inbreds in the primary roots. By using 5′ end random primers in combination with three one-base-anchored primers, it was found that 22.5% and 22.9% of 877 total displayed cDNAs were differentially expressed between hybrid A, B and their parents, respectively. Both quantitative and qualitative differences in gene expression between hybrids and their parental inbreds were obvious, indicating that the patterns of gene expression in hybrids alter significantly as compared to their corresponding parents. On the other hand, by using MADS-box gene specific 5′ end primer for DDRT-PCR, we found that nearly all of the displayed cDNA fragments were polymorphic between hybrids and their parents, and major difference occurred in qualitative level, in which hybrid specific-expressed and silenced genes are the major two patterns, suggesting that MADS-box gene may be important for manifestation of differential gene expression and wheat heterosis. In comparison with our previous results by using seedling leaves, it is indicated that differential gene expression between hybrids and parents is dependent on the tissues tested, and more differentially expressed genes were observed in the primary roots than in the seedling leaves. Therefore, it is concluded that the expressions of both randomly displayed cDNAs and transcription factor genes, such as MADS-box, alter significantly between hybrids and their parents, which might be responsible for the observed heterosis.
