Mitochondrial DNA rearrangement associated with fertility restoration and cytoplasmic reversion to fertility in cytoplasmic male sterile Phaseolus vulgaris L.

Authors

• Sally Ann MacKenzie, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
• D. R. Pring, USDA--University of Florida, Gainesville
• M. J. Bassett, University of Florida, Gainesville
• C. D. Chase, University of FloridaFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

4-1988

Comments

Published in Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA Vol. 85, pp. 2714-2717, April 1988. Copyright 1988 National Academy of Sciences. Used by permission.

Abstract

Restoration of pollen fertility to cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) Phaseolus vulgaris by a nuclear restorer gene provides a system for studying nuclear-cytoplasmic interactions. Introduction of a nuclear restorer gene to this CMS line of P. vulgaris (CMS-Sprite) results in a mitochondrial genome rearrangement similar to that observed upon spontaneous cytoplasmic reversion to fertility. Three spontaneous heritable cytoplasmic revertants were derived from CMS-Sprite. Five fully fertile restored lines were also produced by using restorer line R-351 (BC₃F₃ populations). Comparison of the mitochondrial DNA restriction patterns of CMS-Sprite, the three fertile revertants, and the five restored lines revealed loss of a 6.0-kilobase (kb) Pst I fragment in all restored and revertant lines. Southern hybridizations with a 1.3-kb BamHI clone, internal to the 6.0-kb Pst I fragment, as a probe revealed two configurations of 6.0-kb homologous sequences in the sterile cytoplasm; one of the configurations was lost upon reversion or restoration. Mitochondrial DNA rearrangement has thus been observed upon restoration by a nuclear restorer gene in this CMS system.