A method of selectively producing male or female sterile plants

Abstract

A method of producing male or female sterile plants comprising the steps of transforming plant material with a polynucleotide which encodes at least one enzyme which reacts with a non-phytotoxic substance to produce a phytotoxic one, and regenerating the thus transformed material into a plant, wherein the said non-phytotoxic substance is applied to the plant up to the time of male or female gamete formation and / or maturation, so that the non-phytotoxic substance provides for the production of a phytotoxic one which selectively prevents the formation of or otherwise renders the said gametes non-functional, wherein the enzyme is expressed preferentially in either male or female reproductive structures, characterised in that (i) the non-phytotoxic substance is selected from the group consisting of ester derivatives of non-phosphonate herbicides which herbicides are directly phytotoxic to non-green tissue, D-alpha amino acids, peptide derivatives of non-protein D-alpha amino acids, S-enantiomers of aryloxyphenoxypropionates and S-enantiomers of ester derivatives of aryloxyphcnoxypropionatcs and (ii) the enzyme is selected from the group consisting of carboxylesterases, D-amino acid oxidases, D-amino acid dehydrogenases, D-amino acid racemases, 2-arylpropionyl-CoA epimerases, alpha-methylacyl-CoA racemases, thioesterases and acyl-CoA synthetases.

Description

Background technique [0001] Heterosis in crop plants has a significant effect on yield enhancement. Generally, hybrids show increased yield compared to non-hybrid varieties. Hybrids generally give more return units to growth factors such as water and fertilizers. Hybrids often offer superior stress tolerance, yield and consistency of maturity, and also provide simple breeding opportunities to combine traits or traits that would otherwise be difficult to combine. Often, heterosis in plants is important enough to warrant commercial exploitation. Commercial hybrids are widely used in many crops including corn, sorghum, sugar beet, sunflower and canola. However, wheat, barley and rice have mainly been bred by inbreeding mainly due to the lack of methods for the production of economical hybrid seeds. [0002] Traditionally, hybrid seed production involves planting spaced apart plots of female and male parental lines, with only the female parent's seed harvested. To ensure that...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0010] Despite these methods of producing conditionally sterile male and female parental lines, hybrid seed production is far from routine in crops such as wheat

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