Anther development and male fertility are essential biological processes for flowering plants and are important for crop seed production.Genetic manipulation of male fertility/sterility is critical for crop hybrid breeding.Rice (Oryza sativa L.) male sterility phenotypes,including genic male sterility,hybrid male sterility,and cytoplasmic male sterility,are generally caused by mutations of fertility-related genes,by incompatible interactions between divergent allelic or non-allelic genes,or by genetic incompatibilities between cytoplasmic and nuclear genomes.Here,we review the recent advances in the molecular basis of anther development and male fertility-sterility conversion in specific genetic backgrounds,and the interactions with certain environmental factors.The highlighted findings in this review have significant implications in both basic studies and rice genetic improvement.
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