A new source of cytoplasmic male sterility in maize induced by the nuclear gene, iojap

Summary

Cytoplasmic male sterility (cms) was found in plants derived from the F₂ progeny of fertile, normal cytoplasm plants of the inbred R181 pollinated with a genetic stock carrying the recessive nuclear gene, iojap. The male sterile plants were maintained by back-crossing with the inbred W182BN which maintains all known sources of cytoplasmic male sterility. The new male sterile progeny were found to exhibit stable male sterility under field conditions in two environments. However, they were partially fertile in the hot, dry summer of 1983 at Aurora, NY. It was found that these lines were restored by lines that characteristically restore cms S group cytoplasms. Pollen phenotype studies indicated that the restoration was gametophytic in nature, also characteristic of the cms S group. Agarose gel electrophoresis of undigested mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from these steriles indicated that these lines have the S-1 and S-2 episomes characteristic of the cms S group. Restriction endonuclease digest patterns of mtDNA from these sterile lines digested with BamH I indicated that these steriles fit into the CA subgroup of the cms S group. The new source of cms has been designated cms Ij-1.