The pollen grain is a unique tricellular structure suitable for the delivery of the sperm cells to the ovule. All nutrients required for microspore and pollen cell growth are derived by passage through the anther locule and secretion by the tapetum lining. During later stages the tapetum degenerates but contributes to produce pigments, waxes, lipids and proteins which form the pollen coat and function in signaling between male (pollen) and female (pistil) tissues. The development of both normal pollen and tapetum is necessary for the fertilization processes in rice and would be exploited for the induction of male-sterility which is very useful to improve economic value of crops.
We aredeveloping new approaches using a conditional male-sterility for the F1 hybrid seed production in rice. The conventional three parental systems for F1 hybrid seed production requirethe following three lines: male-sterile line, maintainer line, and restorer line. In this system, a critical requirement is to maintain the male-sterile inbred lines. Here we suggest molecular approaches, in which the engineered male-sterile plants are generated by regulating endogenous hormonal balance through the loss-of-function of genes. We can expect the male-sterility can be restored by exogenous applications of hormones such as gibberellin or jasmonic acid. Based on two parental systems, we will address the answer onfollowing question: how can we maintain a male-sterile line producing 100% male-sterile progenies without a maintainer?
This work was supported by grants from Crop Functional Genomics Center of the 21C Frontier Program (CG1517), RepublicKorea.