Patent ID: 8996318
Filing Date: 2015-03-31
Classification: C12Q,G16B

Abstract:
1. A method for predicting the heterotic phenotype of progeny plants with unknown heterotic phenotypes, the method comprising: a) obtaining sample genomic DNA from a plurality of inbred parental plants from a plurality of crosses, wherein each of said crosses produces hybrid progeny plants possessing a known heterotic phenotype; b) performing a comparative genomic hybridization technique on the sample genomic DNA to detect DNA copy number variations between genomes of said plurality of inbred parental plants, wherein said comparative genomic hybridization technique comprises hybridization of said sample genomic DNA to a plurality of oligonucleotide probe molecules, wherein each of said oligonucleotide probe molecules is between about 20 and about 100 nucleotides in length, wherein the hybridization of sample genomic DNA to each of said oligonucleotide probe molecule produces a hybridization intensity, and wherein said DNA copy number variation is determined by comparing the hybridization intensities (i) between at least two genomic DNA samples from said inbred parental plants or (ii) between at least one genomic DNA sample from said inbred parental plants and a reference sequence; c) identifying a subset of the copy number variations that predicts the known heterotic phenotype in the hybrid progeny plants, wherein said subset is identified by relating the detected copy number variations to the known heterotic phenotypes using an iterated evolutionary computational approach; and d) utilizing the subset of copy number variations to predict a heterotic phenotype of hybrid progeny plants derived from an additional cross of inbred parental plants, wherein the heterotic phenotype of hybrid progeny plants derived from said additional cross is unknown, and wherein the presence or absence of each of said identified copy number variations is known for each inbred parental plant from said additional cross; and e) crossing the inbred parents of said additional cross to produce a hybrid progeny plant with the heterotic phenotype.