Molecular biology of maize CMS

摘要

Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS), an important maternally inherited trait, has the potential to facilitate the quality of hybrid seed and substantially circumventing the costly procedure of hand emasculation in hybrid seed production. Its widespread application in maize, however, hindered due mainly to the specific susceptibility of certain CMS cytoplasms to fungal pathogens and instability of male-fertility. Illuminating the molecular biology of CMS is the advanced basic research area to produce hybrid seed of maize using CMS.