Integrating Dynamic 3D Chromatin Architecture and Gene Expression Alterations Reveal Heterosis in Brassica rapa

Heterosis plays a significant role in enhancing variety, boosting yield, and raising economic value in crops, but the molecular mechanism is still unclear. We analyzed the transcriptomes and 3D genomes of a hybrid (F₁) and its parents (w30 and 082). The analysis of the expression revealed a total of 485 specially expressed genes (SEGs), 173 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) above the parental expression level, more actively expressed genes, and up-regulated DEGs in the F₁. Further study revealed that the DEGs detected in the F₁ and its parents were mainly involved in the response to auxin, plant hormone signal transduction, DNA metabolic process, purine metabolism, starch, and sucrose metabolism, which suggested that these biological processes may play a crucial role in the heterosis of Brassica rapa. The analysis of 3D genome data revealed that hybrid F₁ plants tend to contain more transcriptionally active A chromatin compartments after hybridization. Supplementaryly, the F₁ had a smaller TAD (topologically associated domain) genome length, but the number was the highest, and the expression change in activated TAD was higher than that of repressed TAD. More specific TAD boundaries were detected between the parents and F₁. Subsequently, 140 DEGs with genomic structural variants were selected as potential candidate genes. We found two DEGs with consistent expression changes in A/B compartments and TADs. Our findings suggested that genomic structural variants, such as TADs and A/B chromatin compartments, may affect gene expression and contribute to heterosis in Brassica rapa. This study provides further insight into the molecular mechanism of heterosis in Brassica rapa.