Pleiotropic effects of a nuclear restorer-of-fertility locus on mitochondrial transcripts in male-fertile and S male-sterile maize (original) (raw)

Abstract

Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) is encoded by the plant mitochondrial genome and can be reversed by nuclear restorer-of-fertility(Rf) alleles. In the CMS-S system of maize, reproductive failure and fertility restoration are gametophytic, occurring during the starch-filling stages of pollen development. Transcripts of the CMS-S-associated mitochondrial open reading frames (orf355 and orf77) are present from the early stages of microspore development through the aborted pollen stage. To investigate the molecular basis of fertility restoration, we compared mitochondrial-transcript accumulation in aborting CMS-S pollen and in CMS-S pollen restored to fertility by the Rf3 nuclear allele. In the presence of the Rf3 allele, novel, shorter transcripts of the orf355-orf77, cob and atp6 mitochondrial genes were created, and the relative abundance of larger transcripts was decreased for each of these loci. The altered transcript patterns cosegregated with male fertility conditioned by the Rf3 allele. The novel cob and atp6 transcripts were also observed in leaf-tissues of both normal and S-cytoplasm plants carrying the Rf3 allele. These observations support the hypothesis that the Rf3 allele encodes, or regulates, a modifier of mitochondrial transcript (Mmt) activity that affects both CMS and essential mitochondrial gene transcripts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Horticultural Sciences Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL32611-0690, USA e-mail ctdc@gnv.ifas.ufl.edu Tel.: +1-352-392 1928 ext. 316 Fax: +1-352-392 6479, , , , , , US
    Lanying Wen & C. D. Chase

Authors

  1. Lanying Wen
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  2. C. D. Chase
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Received: 19 October 1998 / 15 February 1999

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Wen, L., Chase, C. Pleiotropic effects of a nuclear restorer-of-fertility locus on mitochondrial transcripts in male-fertile and S male-sterile maize.Curr Genet 35, 521–526 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/s002940050448

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