|Chen, W. - UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA|
|Howad, W. - RUHR UNIV, GERMANY|
|Kempken, F. - RUHR UNIV, GERMANY|
Submitted to: Journal of Heredity
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: January 10, 1999
Publication Date: N/A
Technical Abstract: The sorghum line IS1112C carries a male sterility-inducing cytoplasm when introduced into nuclear backgrounds that do not include fertility restoration genes. A mitochondrial DNA chimeric configuration resulting from recombination/duplication with atp9 resulted in the formation of orf107, a chimeric open reading frame. Transcription of orf107 is driven by three promoters, and abundant whole-length transcripts are detected in male-sterile lines. Fertility restoration is exacted through a unique two-gene gametophytic system requiring complementary action of genes designated Rf3 and Rf4. In male-sterile lines carrying Rf3, or lines restored to fertility, an enhanced nucleolytic transcript processing activity is targeted within orf107, cleaving 75% of whole length transcripts. Rf3 thus confers or regulates the nucleolytic processing activity. A correlation between the frequency of RNA editing at two sites in orf107 and transcript processing suggests that processing may be dependent on templates edited at these sites. Additionally, editing of atp6 transcripts is specifically reduced in anthers/pollen of male-sterile lines. Partially restored F1's and segregating F2's exhibit atp6 editing frequencies consistent with the possibility that Rf4 may confer the restitution of normal editing frequency. Thus RNA editing may be involved in features of fertility restoration in this unusual system.