Isolation and characterization of a male-sterile mojyao mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana

Abstract

A male-sterile mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana was isolated by means of T-DNA tagging. Filament elongation at anthesis was defective in the mutant, although pollen fertility was not defective. This result indicates that male sterility was not caused by pollen itself but by filament elongation. A transmission electron microscope analysis revealed that primexine formation was significantly reduced, and that sporopollenin was randomly deposited onto the microspore plasma membrane. The sporopollenin that failed to deposit aggregated and accumulated within the locule and on the locule wall. However, completely reticulate pattern was observed at anthesis. MOJYAO gene is considered to be DET2 gene which is involved in brassinosteroid biosynthesis.