Identification and characterization of genes involved in hybrid lethality in hybrid tobacco cells (Nicotiana suaveolens x N. tabacum) using suppression subtractive hybridization.

Hybrid lethality is an important problem for cross-breeding; however, its molecular mechanism is not clear. The purpose of the present study was to identify the genes expressed during hybrid lethality in the hybrid cells (Nicotiana suaveolens x N. tabacum). In order to identify these genes, we employed suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) between RNA isolated from cells expressing lethality (lethal hybrid line; LH line) and cells overcoming lethality fortuitously (a surviving hybrid line; SH line). Four populations of cDNA were created from the time points corresponding to before and during induction, and at and after the point of no return (PNR) during the process of programmed cell death (PCD) that occurs during hybrid lethality. By SSH and following dot-blot macroarray analysis, 99 genes out of 138 isolated clones were identified as hybrid lethality-related (HLR) genes. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis data indicated that ten clones were expressed specifically in LH line cells. The HLR genes in these clones show homology to genes involved in disease resistance, ethylene-induced reactions, phosphorylation, ubiquitination, jasmonic acid-related reactions, calcium signaling and self-incompatibility. These data suggested that at least some parts of the mechanism of hybrid lethality are shared with those of the putative functions of the HLR gene-related pathways.