Identification and fine mapping of a fertility restorer gene for wild abortive cytoplasmic male sterility in the elite indica rice non-restorer line 9311

The wild abortive(WA)-type cytoplasmic male sterility(CMS)derived from the wild rice species Oryza rufipogon Griff.is used widely in three-line indica hybrids.The identification and mapping of restorer of fertility(Rf)genes aided in the development of WA-type hybrids.Here we report that testcross F1 plants from the WA-type CMS line and 9311 exhibited stainable pollen grains with no seed set,indicating that 9311 carries minor-effect Rfs for WA-type CMS.We developed an advanced backcross population consisting of plants harboring small regions of donor chromosomal segments from 9311 in the WATianfeng A genetic background with moderate seed setting rates.Genetic analysis showed that the pollen fertility levels of the backcross individuals are governed by a single gene from 9311 that we named Rf19(t).By use of the RICE 40 K gene chip,three introduced segments were identified in the fertile lines,and a candidate region spanning 4.37–8.29 Mb on chromosome 1 was identified for Rf19(t).Finally,Rf19(t)was fine-mapped to a region of 90 kb between the DNA marker loci STS1-163 and STS1-183,in which eight ORFs were predicted.Also,using relative expression analyses,comparative sequence analyses and functional domain analyses,we identified LOC_Os01g10530 as the most likely candidate gene for Rf19(t).Furthermore,Rf19(t)was found to function in fertility restoration,most probably by regulating the degradation of m RNA transcribed from the mitochondrial gene WA352.These results increase our knowledge of fertility restoration in WA-type CMS lines and will facilitate the development of high-quality pairs of WAtype CMS and maintainer lines.

Genetic Analysis and Mapping of Genes Involved in Fertility of Pingxiang Dominant Genic Male Sterile Rice

Pingxiang-dominant genic male sterile rice （PDGMSR） was the first dominant genic male sterile mutant identified in rice （Oryza sativa L.）, and the corresponding dominant genic male sterile gene was designated as Ms-p. The fertility of PDGMSR can be restored by introduction of a dominant epistatic fertility restoring gene in some rice varieties. In the present study, E823, an indica inbred rice variety, restored the fertility of PDGMSR, and the genetic pattern was found to be consistent with a dominant epistatic model, therefore, the dominant epistatic fertility restorer gene was designated as Rfe. The F2 population from the cross of PDGMSR/E823 was developed to map gene Rfe. The F2 plants with the genotypes Ms-pMs-pRferfe or Ms-pms-pRferfe were used to construct a fertile pool, and the corresponding sterile plants with genotypes Ms-pMs-prferfe or Ms-pms-prferfe were used to con- struct a sterile pool. The fertility restoring gene Rfe was mapped to one side of the microsatellite markers RM311 and RM3152 on rice chromosome 10, with genetic distances of 7.9 cM and 3.6 cM, respectively. The microsatellite markers around the location of the Ms-p gene were used to finely map the Ms-p gene. The findings of this study indicated that the microsatellite markers RM171 and RM6745 flanked the Ms-p gene, and the distances were 0.3 cM and 3.0 cM, respectively. On the basis of the sequence of rice chromosome 10, the physical distance between the two markers is approximately 730 kb. These findings facilitates molecular marker-assisted selection （MAS） of genes Ms-p and Rfe in rice breeding programs, and cloning them in the future.

Differentially Expressed Genes Related to Fertility Conversion in Thermo-sensitive Genic Male Sterile(TGMS) Lines of Brassica juncea

[Objective] This study was performed to screen functional genes related to the fertility conversion of thermo-sensitive genic male sterile （TGMS） lines of Brassica juncea L. [Method] A B. juncea TGMS line K121S was selected as the experimental material. The total RNAs were isolated from fertile and sterile pollens at different development stages, including mother cell stage, tetrad stage, tricellular pollen stage and maturity stage. DDRT-PCR was carried out to identify differentially expressed genes. [Result] A total of 44 differentially expressed cDNA fragments were identified with Dot blot. And seven candidate genes related to fertility conversion of K121S were screened out by BLASTN, including callose synthase gene, aldehyde dehydrogenase gene and RNA polymerase I transcription factor RRN3 gene which were differentially expressed at the transcriptional level, H＇-ATPase gene, fructose diphosphate aldolase -class I gene, teucine-rich repeat receptor-Jike serine/threonine- protein kinase gene and alkaline/neutral invertase gene, which were differentially expressed at the post-transcriptional level. [Conclusion] The results of this study will help to explain the molecular mechanism of thermo-sensitive genic male sterility of B. juncea.

Breeding lines with neutral genes to improve fertility of intersubspecific hybrid rice

Since the sterility-neutral allele S~n has been incorporatedinto indica or japonica varieties, many intersubspecifichybrids have been released commercially. These hybridsshowed high heterosis, but some of them exhibited unstableseed setting rate under low temperature. When the hybridsflowered at low temperature, the fertility of female gamete

Inheritance of Fertility Restoration for Cytoplasmic Male Sterility in a New Gossypium barbadense Restorer

In order to clarify inheritance mechanism of fertility restoration for cytoplasmic male sterility （CMS） in a new Gossypium barbadense restorer line Hai R which was found in the fertility test crossing of G. hirsutum CMS lines with G. barbadense germplasms. 23 fertility segregation populations of F2 and backcross were used to analyze the inheritance of fertility restoring gene（s） of Hai R. The result showed that Hai R had one major dominant gene （RfB） to control the CMS fertility restoration and this fertility restoration gene functioned at the sporophytic level. The sterile cytoplasm background might not only influence the transmission rate of male gamete but also that of female gamete when the restorer gene was recessive. It could be deduced that this fertility restoration gene might come from G. harknessii cotton, Hai R is of value in the application of cotton interspecific hybrid breeding.

Cloning and Characterization of the Microspore Development-Related Gene BcMF2 in Chinese Cabbage Pak-Choi （Brassica campestris L. ssp. chinensis Makino）

: For the sake of providing some important information relevant to the study of the molecular mechanism of genic male sterility in plants, gene differential expression in flower buds at different developmental stages, as well as in rosette leaves, florescence leaves, and scapes was analyzed using cDNA amplified fragment length polymorphism (cDNA-AFLP) in the genic male sterile A and fertile B line of Chinese cabbage pak-choi. Following amplification of 125 pairs of primer combinations, 11 differential fragments were obtained, of which eight were from the B line and the other three were from the A line. Of 11 differential fragments, four were verified by Northern hybridization that were expressed preferentially in fertile flower buds. Results of GenBank BLAST showed that one fragment was with unknown function, whereas the other fragments have strong nucleotide sequence similarities with the polygalacturonase (PG) gene, the pectinesterase (PE) gene, and the polygalacturonase inhibitory protein (PGIP4) gene. Only full-length cDNA from the differential fragment BcMF-A18T16-1 was amplified by rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) and Northern analysis showed that this fragment was expressed only in medium and large-sized flower buds of the B line. The full-length cDNA, designated as BcMF2 (Brassica campestris Male Fertile 2), was 1 485 bp long and was composed of a 1 263-bp open reading frame, which had 83% nucleotide similarity to a PG gene from Arabidopsis encoding polygalacturonase. Analysis of the basic structure of the protein revealed that it had one polygalacturonase active site (RVTCGPGHGLSVGS) at 256th site of amino acids and was classified as being a member of family 28 of the glycosyl hydrolases. The role of the BcMF2 gene on microspore development is discussed in the present paper.