Heterosis

Abstract

Heterosis refers to the phenomenon that progeny of diverse varieties of a species or crosses between species exhibit greater biomass, speed of development, and fertility than both parents. Various models have been posited to explain heterosis, including dominance, overdominance, and pseudo-overdominance. In this Perspective, we consider that it might be useful to the field to abandon these terms that by their nature constrain data interpretation and instead attempt a progression to a quantitative genetic framework involving interactions in hierarchical networks. While we do not provide a comprehensive model to explain the phenomenology of heterosis, we provide the details of what needs to be explained and a direction of pursuit that we feel should be fruitful. © 2010 American Society of Plant Biologists.