Synchronization of Arabidopsis flowering time and vegetative growth stage via FT overexpression can reveal inherent heterosis due to heterozygosity in intraspecific hybrids.

Abstract

Intraspecific hybrids of Arabidopsis sometimes display heterosis. However, allelic variation of flowering repressor genes causes late flowering in F1, which might distort the potential heterosis effect due to prolonged vegetative growth. Here, overexpression of flowering gene FT synchronized flowering and eliminated growth differentials between parental and F1. These findings indicate the possibility of quantitatively demonstrating the inherent heterosis caused by heterozygosity.