Abstract
We previously identified a male sterile Arabidopsis mutant, ms1-8, and isolated MS1 gene. MS1 was expressed specifically in tapetums and transiently during tetrad stage. The mutant did not accumulate cell wall of microspores, both the microspores and the tapetums gradually became vacuolated, and finally empty locules resulted. The MS1 protein was suggested to be a nuclear regulator.
We examined here whether a fusion protein of the MS1 and a strong transcriptional repressor SRDX functions as a repressor, and changes wild-type plants to sterile. The fusion gene repressed the pollen development, but the effect was incomplete. We will discuss further this novel technique to generate male sterile plants.
