Slow development restores the fertility of photoperiod-sensitive male-sterile plant lines

Abstract

Photoperiod- and thermosensitive genic male sterility (P/TGMS) lines are widely used in crop breeding. The fertility conversion of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) TGMS lines including cals5-2, which is defective in callose wall formation, relies on slow development under low temperatures. In this study, we discovered that cals5-2 also exhibits PGMS. Fertility of cals5-2 was restored when pollen development was slowed under short-day photoperiods or low light intensity, suggesting that slow development restores the fertility of cals5-2 under these conditions. We found that several other TGMS lines with defects in pollen wall formation also exhibited PGMS characteristics. This similarity indicates that slow development is a general mechanism of PGMS fertility restoration. Notably, slow development also underlies the fertility recovery of TGMS lines. Further analysis revealed the pollen wall features during the formation of functional pollens of these P/TGMS lines under permissive conditions. We conclude that slow development is a general mechanism for fertility restoration of P/TGMS lines and allows these plants to take different strategies to overcome pollen formation defects.