USING OLIGONUCLEOTIDE MICROARRAYS TO ANALYZE GENOMIC DIFFERENCES FOR THE PREDICTION OF HETEROSIS

A novel method for prediction of the degree of heterotic phenotypes in plants is disclosed. Structural variation analyzes of the genome are used to predict the degree of a heterotic phenotype in plants. In some examples, copy number variation is used to predict the degree of heterotic phenotype. In some methods copy number variation is detected using competitive genomic hybridization arrays. Further, methods for optimizing the arrays are disclosed, together with kits for producing such arrays, as well as hybrid plants selected for development based on the predicted results.