Recent Advances in Cytoplasmic Male Sterility (CMS) in Crop Brassicas

Abstract

Brassicas are widely used for different purposes as vegetable oil, condiments, vegetables, biofuels, and animal feed. The cultivated rapeseed-mustard species are adapted in diverse agro-climatic situation ranged from warmer semitropical to cooler temperate regions of the world represented in China, Canada, India, Germany, the UK, France, Australia, Poland, and the USA. Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) is one of the extensively studied and useful examples of nucleo-cytoplasmic interactions. CMS is attributed by failure of plant to produce functional/viable pollen grain. CMS is a consequence of conflict/miscoordination between the organelles (mitochondria) and nuclear genes that arises due to instinctively mutation mt DNA and production of alloplasmic substitutions with widely differentiated wild spp. In this chapter, we will discuss the various cytoplasmic male sterility systems with fertility restorer (Rf) genes and advancement in the understanding of fertility restoration mechanism of fertility restorer genes.