Cis-transcriptional variation in maize inbred lines B73 and Mo17 leads to additive expression patterns in the F₁ hybrid

Microarray analysis of gene expression patterns in immature ear, seedling, and embryo tissues from the maize inbred lines B73 and Mo17 identified numerous genes with variable expression. Some genes had detectable expression in only one of the two inbreds; most of these genes were detected in the genomic DNA of both inbreds, indicating that the expression differences are likely caused by differential regulation rather than by differences in gene content. Gene expression was also monitored in the reciprocal F₁ hybrids B73 X Mo17 and Mo17 X B73. The reciprocal F₁ hybrid lines did not display parental effects on gene expression levels. Approximately 80% of the differentially expressed genes displayed additive expression patterns in the hybrids relative to the inbred parents. The ∼20% of genes that display nonadditive expression patterns tend to be expressed at levels within the parental range, with minimal evidence for novel expression levels greater than the high parent or less than the low parent. Analysis of allele-specific expression patterns in the hybrid suggested that intraspecific variation in gene expression levels is largely attributable to cis-regulatory variation in maize. Collectively, our data suggest that allelic cis-regulatory variation between B73 and Mo17 dictates maintenance of inbred allelic expression levels in the F₁ hybrid, resulting in additive expression patterns.