Male Sterility

 Male sterility – Inability of plant to develop functional pollen grains

(male gamete).

 Classified into 4 groups:

1. Genetic male sterility
2. Cytoplasmic male sterility
3. Cytoplasmic genetic male sterility
4. Environmental male sterility
 Genetic male sterility (GMS) –
 Controlled by nuclear genes.
 Genes controlling it are known by name as MS genes.
 In most cases, recessive ms alleles lead to male sterility whereas its
its dominant type i.e MS leads to functional pollen.
 Heterozygote (MS ms) & dominant homozygous would produce
functional pollen grains while homozygous recessive (ms ms) will
result in male sterile plants.
 As genes reside in the nucleus ,therefore they follow mendelian
inheritance.
 Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) –
 Controlled by genes other than nuclear genes i.e genes residing in the
cytoplasm (mitochondria & chloroplast contains DNA)
 Cytoplasm to offspring is provided by female parents hence this type of
sterility is governed by female parent.
 Does not follow mendelian inheritance.
 Only reflecting lack of suitable genes which actually interact with
cytoplasm to regulate sterility and fertility.
 True cytoplasmic ms should remain uninfluenced by nuclear genes and
such stable male sterile types are unknown as fertility restorer genes.
 Molecular basis of CMS
 Most types of CMS are caused by the expression of aberrant chimeric genes
locating in mitochondrial genomes.
 Chimeric genes, literally a mutated gene, form through the combination of
portions of 2 or more coding sequences to produce new genes which merge
whole gene sequences into a single reading frame and often retain their
original functions.
 In a no. of cases, transcripts originating from these altered open reading frames
are translated into unique proteins that appear to interfere with pollen
development.
 A no. of CMS determining genes have been identified. These include the T-
urf13 gene in T- cytoplasm maize, pcf in petunia ,orf138 & orf224 in Brassica.
 These genes are unusual ORFs that have resulted from mitochondrial DNA
rearrangements.
Cytoplasmic genetic male sterility (CGMS) –
 Results from the interaction among the cytoplasmic and nuclear genes.
 CGMS &CMS are used interchaneably.
 In some cases, the nuclear genes often called fertility restoration genes
can compensate for cytoplasmic mutation & normal pollen formation
occurs.
 Therefore,the expression of mitochondrial (cytoplasmic) male sterility
genes is governed by the type (Dominant/recessive) of nuclear fertility
restoring genes.
 The fertility restoring alleles have been represented by symbols like
Rfr (fertility restoring) in wheat,sunflower & corn,& MS (male fertile)
in onions,sorghum & pearl millet.
 CMS in Maize
 In maize, 3 male sterile sources(cms) are known, which are called
T,C &S. The normal male fertile cytoplasm is called N cytoplasm.
 T(Texas) cytoplasm was associated with
1. Susceptibility to two diseases, namely southern corn leaf blight
disease and Yellow leaf blight.
2. An unusual mitochondrial gene T-urf13, a 13 kda polypeptide
(URF13)
 Mitochondrial mutants like T-urf13 could interfere with
mitochondrial replication,electron transport or phosphorylation
specifically in tapetum.
 Effects of URF13 protein –
1. Degeneration of tapetum during microsporogenesis.
2. Disruption of pollen development leading to male cell abortion.
Restoration of fertility through Rf1 and Rf2 :
 T cytoplasm will produce URF13 but the plant will have noval male
fertility if dominant alleles occur at two nuclear genes Rf1 &Rf2 (need
dominant alleles at both loci to restore fertility.
 Nuclear genes must interact in some manner with the URF13 protein,T-
urf13 transcription or T-urf13 transcripts in a manner to rescue the
damage done potentially caused by active protein.
 Environmental- sensitive genetic male sterility (EGMS) :
 Here the expression of nuclear male sterility genes is governed by the
prevailing environmental conditions.
 Nuclear genes cause male sterility under specific environmental
conditions & fertility is restored when the environmental conditions
change.
1. Photoperiod sensitive GMS :
 In this photoperiod length determines the development of ms and mf
plants i.e particular day length favour male fertile plants while above or
below it favour the development of ms plants.
 2. Thermosesitive GMS –
 Here similar role is played by temperature i.e. a particular
range of temperature favour male fertile & above or below
it favour male sterile plants.