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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » Corn Insects and Crop Genetics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #90886
Title: THE MOECULAR BASIS OF CYTOPLASMIC MALE STERILITY AND FERTILITY RESTORATION

Author
item SCHNABLE, PATRICK - IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
item Wise, Roger

Submitted to: Trends in Plant Science
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/15/1998
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) is a maternally-inherited inability to produce functional pollen. It has been observed in many plant species and is often associated with chimeric mitochondrial open reading frames. In a number of cases, transcripts originating from these altered open reading frames are translated into unique mitochondrial proteins that are thought to interfere with mitochondrial function and pollen development. Nuclear restorer (Rf or Fr) genes function to suppress the deleterious effects of CMS-associated mitochondrial abnormalities by diverse mechanisms that are now being elucidated. Here, we describe several of the well characterized CMS systems, the mitochondrial sequences thought to be responsible for these phenotypes, and possible mechanisms by which nuclear restoration of CMS occurs.