Abstract

Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) has long been used to economically produce hybrids that harness growth vigor through heterosis. Yet, how CMS systems operate within commercially viable seed production strategies in various economically important vegetable crops, and their underlying molecular mechanisms, are often overlooked details that could expand the utility of CMS as a cost-effective and stable system. We provide here an update on the nature of cytoplasmic–nuclear interplay for pollen sterility and fertility transitions in vegetable crops, based on the discovery of components of nuclear fertility restoration and reversion determinants. Within plant CMS systems, pollen fertility can be rescued by the introduction of nuclear fertility restorer genes (Rfs), which operate by varied mechanisms to countermand the sterility phenotype. By understanding these systems, it is now becoming feasible to achieve fertility restoration with Rfs designed for programmable CMS-associated open reading frames (ORFs). Likewise, new opportunities exist for targeted disruption of CMS-associated ORFs by mito-TALENs in crops where natural Rfs have not been readily identified, providing an alternative approach to recovering fertility of cytoplasmic male sterile lines in crops. Recent findings show that facultative gynodioecy, as a reproductive strategy, can coordinate the sterility and fertility transition in response to environmental cues and/or metabolic signals that reflect ecological conditions of reproductive isolation. This information is important to devising future systems that are more inherently stable.

中文翻译：

---

利用细胞质雄性不育蔬菜作物的不育和育性变异

 抽象的

细胞质雄性不育（CMS）长期以来一直被用来经济地生产通过杂种优势利用生长活力的杂种。然而，CMS 系统如何在各种经济上重要的蔬菜作物中在商业上可行的种子生产策略中运作，及其潜在的分子机制，往往被忽视，而这些细节可能会扩大 CMS 作为具有成本效益和稳定的系统的效用。基于核育性恢复和回复决定因素的组成部分，我们在此提供了蔬菜作物花粉不育和育性转变的细胞质-核相互作用性质的最新信息。在植物 CMS 系统中，可以通过引入核育性恢复基因 ( Rfs ) 来挽救花粉育性，该基因通过多种机制发挥作用来抵消不育表型。通过了解这些系统，现在使用专为可编程 CMS 相关开放阅读框 ( ORF ) 设计的Rfs来实现生育力恢复变得可行。同样，在天然Rf尚未确定的作物中，通过 mito-TALEN 靶向破坏 CMS 相关ORF也存在新的机会，为恢复作物细胞质雄性不育系的育性提供了另一种方法。最近的研究结果表明，兼性雌雄异株作为一种生殖策略，可以响应反映生殖隔离生态条件的环境线索和/或代谢信号来协调不育和生育转变。这些信息对于设计本质上更加稳定的未来系统非常重要。