Quantitative Proteomics of Zea mays Hybrids Exhibiting Different Levels of Heterosis

Maize hybrids exhibiting heterosis (hybrid vigor) were generated from inbred parents with increasing genetic distance. B73 was used as the common female parent in crosses with N192 (low heterosis), MO17 (high-heterosis 1), and NC350 (high-heterosis 2). Total and mitochondria-enriched proteomes were analyzed from ear shoots of field-grown hybrids and their inbred parents. GeLCMS (1D SDS-PAGE fractionation, trypsin digestion, LTQ Orbitrap nano-RP-LC MS/MS) was used to analyze proteins, and spectral counting was used for quantitation. In total, 3,568 proteins were identified and quantified in hybrids including 2,489 in. the mitochondria-enriched fraction and 2,162 in the total protein fraction. Sixty-one proteins were differentially abundant (p < 0.05) in one or both of the high-heterosis hybrids compared with the low-heterosis hybrid. For the total proteome, eight of these showed similar trends in abundance in both of the higher-heterosis hybrids. Nine proteins showed this heterosis-correlated pattern in the mitochondrial proteome, including a mitochondria-associated target of rapamycin (TOR) protein. Although differentially abundant proteins belong to various pathways, protein, and RNA metabolism, and stress responsive proteins were the major classes changed in response to increasing heterosis.