TY - JOUR
T1 - A fertility restorer gene, Rf4, widely used for hybrid rice breeding encodes a pentatricopeptide repeat protein
AU - Kazama, Tomohiko
AU - Toriyama, Kinya
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by MEXT/JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers 2338002, 24117502 and 26292002, and by Science and technology research promotion program for agriculture, forestry, fisheries and food industry (No. 26010A) and a grant from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan (Genomics-based Technology for Agricultural Improvement, QTL-4008). We thank Dr. Masahiro Yano (National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, Tsukuba, Japan) for providing BAC clones. The RIL accessions used in this study were obtained from the National Institute of Genetics supported by the National BioResource Project, MEXT, Japan.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2014, Kazama and Toriyama; licensee Springer.
PY - 2014/12/1
Y1 - 2014/12/1
N2 - Background: Uncontrolled expression of a certain mitochondrial gene often causes cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) in plants. This phenotype is prevented by the presence of a fertility restorer (Rf) gene in the nuclear genome. Such CMS/Rf systems have been successfully used for breedings of F1 hybrid cultivars. In rice, approximately 99% of F1 hybrid cultivars have been developed using a wild abortive type of CMS (WA-CMS) and its Rf genes. Recently, a newly identified mitochondrial gene, orf352, was reported as a WA-CMS-causing gene. Findings: We cloned and functionally characterized Rf4, a major Rf gene for WA-CMS. We revealed that Rf4 encoded a pentatricopeptide repeat-containing protein and reduced the orf352-containing transcripts, thereby restoring pollen fertility. Conclusions: Through a map-based cloning, we have independently identified an allele of a recently reported Rf4 gene and demonstrated that the fertility restoration is controlled sporophytically.
AB - Background: Uncontrolled expression of a certain mitochondrial gene often causes cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) in plants. This phenotype is prevented by the presence of a fertility restorer (Rf) gene in the nuclear genome. Such CMS/Rf systems have been successfully used for breedings of F1 hybrid cultivars. In rice, approximately 99% of F1 hybrid cultivars have been developed using a wild abortive type of CMS (WA-CMS) and its Rf genes. Recently, a newly identified mitochondrial gene, orf352, was reported as a WA-CMS-causing gene. Findings: We cloned and functionally characterized Rf4, a major Rf gene for WA-CMS. We revealed that Rf4 encoded a pentatricopeptide repeat-containing protein and reduced the orf352-containing transcripts, thereby restoring pollen fertility. Conclusions: Through a map-based cloning, we have independently identified an allele of a recently reported Rf4 gene and demonstrated that the fertility restoration is controlled sporophytically.
KW - Cytoplasmic male sterility
KW - Fertility restorer
KW - Rice
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U2 - 10.1186/s12284-014-0028-z
DO - 10.1186/s12284-014-0028-z
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84957535353
VL - 7
SP - 1
EP - 5
JO - Rice
JF - Rice
SN - 1939-8425
IS - 1
M1 - 28
ER -