Hybrid Corn Variety Breeding with CMS and Restorer Lines

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative Solutions
Generate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Existing corn breeding techniques struggle to develop hybrids with uniformity and stability, incorporating desirable traits such as yield, disease resistance, and drought tolerance, while maintaining genetic diversity and avoiding self-pollination.

Innovation Solution

Development of the hybrid corn variety CH010377, which includes genetic modifications for traits like male sterility, herbicide resistance, and disease resistance, achieved through cytoplasmic inheritance and genetic transformation, along with a method for controlled cross-pollination to ensure hybrid purity.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If self-pollination is prevented through male sterility mechanisms, then hybrid purity is improved, but breeding complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvehybrid purityVSAvoidbreeding complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts and utilizes cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) to remove the need for manual emasculation in hybrid seed production. The CMS trait is introduced into the female parent line, which naturally prevents pollen production without requiring physical intervention to remove stamens, thereby maintaining hybrid purity while simplifying the breeding process.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent employs a restorer line as an intermediary that carries nuclear genes capable of restoring male fertility. When the CMS female parent is crossed with the restorer line, the resulting F1 hybrid exhibits restored male fertility, allowing controlled pollination while maintaining the benefits of CMS during the critical seed production stage.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Productivity

If multiple desirable traits are incorporated into a single hybrid variety, then agricultural productivity is improved, but genetic stability becomes more difficult to maintain

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveagricultural productivityVSAvoidgenetic stability
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSStability of the object's composition

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments complex traits into distinct genetic components that can be independently managed. For example, disease resistance, herbicide tolerance, and yield-related traits are introduced as separate transgenic events or through separate backcrossing programs, allowing each trait to be validated and stabilized independently before combination in the final hybrid variety.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent utilizes molecular markers and genomic selection to monitor and maintain genetic stability across multiple trait introductions. By changing the parameters of selection from phenotypic to genotypic markers, the breeding program can track the inheritance of multiple traits simultaneously and ensure genetic stability is maintained throughout the breeding process.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

3Adaptability or versatility

If conventional breeding methods are used to develop hybrid corn, then genetic diversity is maintained, but uniformity in hybrid performance deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvegenetic diversityVSAvoidhybrid uniformity
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSManufacturing precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces conventional mechanical breeding methods (manual cross-pollination, field selection) with molecular biology techniques including DNA marker-assisted selection and genomic prediction. These molecular tools enable precise tracking of parental genome contribution and early-generation selection, maintaining genetic diversity from diverse parental lines while ensuring uniform hybrid performance through molecular verification of parental purity and expected genotype composition.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Data Source

PatentUS12575522B2Plants and seeds of hybrid corn variety CH010377
Publication Date: 2026.03.17 MONSANTO TECHNOLOGY LLC

AI summary

According to the invention, there is provided seed and plants of the hybrid corn variety designated CH010377. The invention thus relates to the plants, seeds and tissue cultures of the variety CH010377, and to methods for producing a corn plant produced by crossing a corn plant of variety CH010377 with itself or with another corn plant, such as a plant of another variety. The invention further relates to genetic complements of plants of variety CH010377.