Incorporating male sterility increases hybrid maize yield in low input African farming systems.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Collinson S
PROVIDER: S-EPMC9307751 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:In F1 hybrids of Oryza sativa (Asian rice) and Oryza glaberrima (African rice), heterozygosity leads to a complete gamete abortion because of allelic conflict at each of the 13 hybrid sterility (HS) loci. We systematically produced 19 plants from the F1 hybrids of both the rice species by the anther culture (AC) method. Five of the 19 interspecific hybrid plants were partially fertile and able to produce seeds. Unlike ordinal doubled haploid plants resulting from AC, these regenerated plants showed various ploidy levels (diploid to pentaploid) and different zygosities (completely homozygous, completely heterozygous, and a combination). These properties were attributable to meiotic anomalies in the interspecific hybrid F1 plants. Examination of the genetic structures of the regenerated plants suggested meiotic non-reduction took place in the interspecific hybrid F1 plants. The centromeric regions in the regenerated plants revealed that the abnormal first and/or second divisions of meiosis, namely the first division restitution (FDR) and/or second division restitution (SDR), had occurred in the interspecific hybrid. Immunohistochemical observations also verified these phenomena. FDR and SDR occurrences at meiosis might strongly lead to the formation of diploid microspores. The results demonstrated that meiotic anomalies functioned as a reproductive barrier occurred before the HS genes acted in gamete of the interspecific hybrid. Although such meiotic anomalies are detrimental to pollen development, the early rescue of microspores carrying the diploid gamete resulted in the fertile regenerated plants. The five partially fertile plants carrying tetraploid genomes with heterozygous alleles of the HS loci produced fertile diploid pollens, implying that the diploid gametes circumvented the allelic conflicts at the HS loci. We also proposed how diploid male gametes avoid HS with the killer-protector model.
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Project description:Recent genetic analyses of closely related species of Drosophila have indicated that hybrid male sterility is the consequence of highly complex synergistic effects among multiple genes, both conspecific and heterospecific. On the contrary, much evidence suggests the presence of major genes causing hybrid female sterility and inviability in the less-related species, D. melanogaster and D. simulans. Does this contrast reflect the genetic distance between species? Or, generally, is the genetic basis of hybrid male sterility more complex than that of hybrid female sterility and inviability? To clarify this point, the D. simulans introgression of the cytological region 34D-36A to the D. melanogaster genome, which causes recessive male sterility, was dissected by recombination, deficiency, and complementation mapping. The 450-kb region between two genes, Suppressor of Hairless and snail, exhibited a strong effect on the sterility. Males are (semi-)sterile if this region of the introgression is made homozygous or hemizygous. But no genes in the region singly cause the sterility; this region has at least two genes, which in combination result in male sterility. Further, the males are less fertile when heterozygous with a larger introgression, which suggests that dominant modifiers enhance the effects of recessive genes of male sterility. Such an epistatic view, even in the less-related species, suggests that the genetic complexity is special to hybrid male sterility.
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Project description:Biochar is a rich-carbon charcoal obtained by pyrolysis of biomasses, which was used since antiquity as soil amendant. Its storage in soils was demonstrated contributing to abate the effects of climate changes by sequestering carbon, also providing bioenergy, and improving soil characteristics and crop yields. Despite interest in this amendant, there is still poor information on its effects on soil fertility and plant growth. Considerable variation in the plant response has been reported, depending on biomass source, pyrolysis conditions, crop species, and cultivation practices. Due to these conflicting evidences, this work was aimed at studying the effects of biochar from pyrolyzed wood at 550°C, containing 81.1% carbon and 0.91% nitrogen, on growth and yield of tomato plants experiencing low-input farming conditions. San Marzano ecotype from Southern Italy was investigated, due to its renowned quality and adaptability to sustainable farming practices. Biochar administration improved vegetative growth and berry yield, while affecting gene expression and protein repertoire in berries. Different enzymes of carbon metabolism and photosynthesis were over-represented, whereas various stress-responsive and defense proteins were down-represented. Molecular results are here discussed in relation to estimated agronomic parameters to provide a rationale justifying the growth-promoting effect of this soil amendant.
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Project description:BACKGROUND:Oryza glumaepatula represents an important resource of genetic diversity that can be used to improve rice production. However, hybrid sterility severely restricts gene flow between Oryza species, and hinders the utilization of distant heterosis in hybrid rice breeding. RESULTS:In order to fully exploit the beneficial genes of O. glumaepatula and facilitate the conservation of these gene resources, a set of chromosome single-segment substitution lines (SSSLs) was developed using an indica variety HJX74 as the recurrent parent and an accession of O. glumaepatula as the donor parent. During the process of SSSLs development, S23, a locus conferring hybrid male sterility between O. sativa and O. glumaepatula, was identified and fine mapped to 11.54 kb and 7.08 kb genomic region in O. sativa and O. glumaepatula, respectively, encoding three and two candidate ORFs, respectively. qRT-PCR and sequence analysis excluded one common ORF as the candidate gene. In addition, hybrid male sterility caused by S23 was environment-sensitive, and could be observed only in natural short-day (NSD). CONCLUSION:Identification and candidate genes analysis of S23 in this study provides a valuable example to study the crosstalk between interspecific F1 hybrid male sterility and environment-conditioned male sterility in rice, facilitates reserving and utilizing favorable genes or alleles of wild Oryza species, and allows for a more efficient exploitation of distant heterosis in hybrid rice breeding.
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Project description:Hybrid male sterility is a common barrier to gene flow between species. Previous studies have posited a link between misregulation of spermatogenesis genes in interspecies hybrids and sterility. However, in the absence of fully fertile control hybrids, it is impossible to differentiate between misregulation associated with sterility vs. fast male gene regulatory evolution. Here, we differentiate between these two possibilities using a D. pseudoobscura species pair that experiences unidirectional hybrid sterility. We identify genes uniquely misexpressed in sterile hybrid male reproductive tracts via RNA-seq. The sterile male hybrids had more misregulated and more over or under expressed genes relative to parental species than the fertile male hybrids. Proteases were the only gene ontology class overrepresented among uniquely misexpressed genes, with four located within a previously identified hybrid male sterility locus. This result highlights the potential role of a previously unexplored class of genes in interspecific hybrid male sterility and speciation.
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Project description:Crop improvement for yield and drought tolerance is challenging due to the complex genetic nature of these traits and environmental dependencies. This study reports that transgenic over-expression of Zea mays AR GOS1 (ZAR1) enhanced maize organ growth, grain yield, and drought-stress tolerance. The ZAR1 transgene exhibited environmental interactions, with yield increase under Temperate Dry and yield reduction under Temperate Humid or High Latitude environments. Native ZAR1 allele variation associated with drought-stress tolerance. Two founder alleles identified in the mid-maturity germplasm of North America now predominate in Pioneer's modern breeding programme, and have distinct proteins, promoters and expression patterns. These two major alleles show heterotic group partitioning, with one predominant in Pioneer's female and the other in the male heterotic groups, respectively. These two alleles also associate with favourable crop performance when heterozygous. Allele-specific transgene testing showed that, of the two alleles discussed here, each allele differed in their impact on yield and environmental interactions. Moreover, when transgenically stacked together the allelic pair showed yield and environmental performance advantages over either single allele, resembling heterosis effects. This work demonstrates differences in transgenic efficacy of native alleles and the differences reflect their association with hybrid breeding performance.
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Project description:The Zea Mays BIG GRAIN 1 HOMOLOG 1 (ZM-BG1H1) was ectopically expressed in maize. Elite commercial hybrid germplasm was yield tested in diverse field environment locations representing commercial models. Yield was measured in 101 tests across all 4 events, 26 locations over 2 years, for an average yield gain of 355 kg/ha (5.65 bu/ac) above control, with 83% tests broadly showing yield gains (range +2272 kg/ha to -1240 kg/ha), with seven tests gaining more than one metric ton per hectare. Plant and ear height were slightly elevated, and ear and tassel flowering time were delayed one day, but ASI was unchanged, and these traits did not correlate to yield gain. ZM-BG1H1 overexpression is associated with increased ear kernel row number and total ear kernel number and mass, but individual kernels trended slightly smaller and less dense. The ZM-BG1H1 protein is detected in the plasma membrane like rice OS-BG1. Five predominant native ZM-BG1H1 alleles exhibit little structural and expression variation compared to the large increased expression conferred by these ectopic alleles.
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Project description:Ecological intensification has been promoted as a means to achieve environmentally sustainable increases in crop yields by enhancing ecosystem functions that regulate and support production. There is, however, little direct evidence of yield benefits from ecological intensification on commercial farms growing globally important foodstuffs (grains, oilseeds and pulses). We replicated two treatments removing 3 or 8% of land at the field edge from production to create wildlife habitat in 50-60 ha patches over a 900 ha commercial arable farm in central England, and compared these to a business as usual control (no land removed). In the control fields, crop yields were reduced by as much as 38% at the field edge. Habitat creation in these lower yielding areas led to increased yield in the cropped areas of the fields, and this positive effect became more pronounced over 6 years. As a consequence, yields at the field scale were maintained--and, indeed, enhanced for some crops--despite the loss of cropland for habitat creation. These results suggested that over a 5-year crop rotation, there would be no adverse impact on overall yield in terms of monetary value or nutritional energy. This study provides a clear demonstration that wildlife-friendly management which supports ecosystem services is compatible with, and can even increase, crop yields.
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Project description:The breeding and large-scale adoption of hybrid seeds is an important achievement in agriculture. Rice hybrid seed production uses cytoplasmic male sterile lines or photoperiod/thermo-sensitive genic male sterile lines (PTGMS) as female parent. Cytoplasmic male sterile lines are propagated via cross-pollination by corresponding maintainer lines, whereas PTGMS lines are propagated via self-pollination under environmental conditions restoring male fertility. Despite huge successes, both systems have their intrinsic drawbacks. Here, we constructed a rice male sterility system using a nuclear gene named Oryza sativa No Pollen 1 (OsNP1). OsNP1 encodes a putative glucose-methanol-choline oxidoreductase regulating tapetum degeneration and pollen exine formation; it is specifically expressed in the tapetum and miscrospores. The osnp1 mutant plant displays normal vegetative growth but complete male sterility insensitive to environmental conditions. OsNP1 was coupled with an α-amylase gene to devitalize transgenic pollen and the red fluorescence protein (DsRed) gene to mark transgenic seed and transformed into the osnp1 mutant. Self-pollination of the transgenic plant carrying a single hemizygous transgene produced nontransgenic male sterile and transgenic fertile seeds in 1:1 ratio that can be sorted out based on the red fluorescence coded by DsRed Cross-pollination of the fertile transgenic plants to the nontransgenic male sterile plants propagated the male sterile seeds of high purity. The male sterile line was crossed with ∼1,200 individual rice germplasms available. Approximately 85% of the F1s outperformed their parents in per plant yield, and 10% out-yielded the best local cultivars, indicating that the technology is promising in hybrid rice breeding and production.
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Project description:We have developed a novel hybridization platform that utilizes nuclear male sterility to produce hybrids in maize and other cross-pollinating crops. A key component of this platform is a process termed Seed Production Technology (SPT). This process incorporates a transgenic SPT maintainer line capable of propagating nontransgenic nuclear male-sterile lines for use as female parents in hybrid production. The maize SPT maintainer line is a homozygous recessive male sterile transformed with a SPT construct containing (i) a complementary wild-type male fertility gene to restore fertility, (ii) an α-amylase gene to disrupt pollination and (iii) a seed colour marker gene. The sporophytic wild-type allele complements the recessive mutation, enabling the development of pollen grains, all of which carry the recessive allele but with only half carrying the SPT transgenes. Pollen grains with the SPT transgenes exhibit starch depletion resulting from expression of α-amylase and are unable to germinate. Pollen grains that do not carry the SPT transgenes are nontransgenic and are able to fertilize homozygous mutant plants, resulting in nontransgenic male-sterile progeny for use as female parents. Because transgenic SPT maintainer seeds express a red fluorescent protein, they can be detected and efficiently separated from seeds that do not contain the SPT transgenes by mechanical colour sorting. The SPT process has the potential to replace current approaches to pollen control in commercial maize hybrid seed production. It also has important applications for other cross-pollinating crops where it can unlock the potential for greater hybrid productivity through expanding the parental germplasm pool.
| S-EPMC5057354 | biostudies-literature