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Cytoplasmic Male Sterility

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Genetic Engineering of Plants

Part of the book series: Basic Life Sciences ((BLSC,volume 26))

Abstract

The trait cytoplasmic male sterility (cms) is common in higher plants. Edwardson (1) reported that the cms trait had been observed in at least eighty unique plant species. Although the trait may manifest itself in different fashions among the various species, cms plants have in common the inability to produce viable pollen. In maize, plants are terminated by an inflorescence called the tassel. The tassel is composed of many male spikelets (flowers) which, at maturity, exert their anthers from which pollen is shed. The young male gametophyte is borne within the pollen grain. In its most severe manifestation (e.g., cms-T), the tassel of a cytoplasmic male-sterile plant does not exert anthers and no pollen is shed. Frequently, as in the case of the S sterile cytoplasm (cms-S), deformed anthers, termed “sticks”, are exerted. However, they contain only aborted pollen grains. The cms trait normally does not affect female fertility.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Genetics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, 27650, USA

    C. S. Levings III

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  1. C. S. Levings III
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of California, Davis, California, USA

    Tsune Kosuge  & Carole P. Meredith  & 

  2. Associated Universities, Inc., Washington, D.C., USA

    Alexander Hollaender

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© 1983 Plenum Press, New York

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Levings, C.S. (1983). Cytoplasmic Male Sterility. In: Kosuge, T., Meredith, C.P., Hollaender, A., Wilson, C.M. (eds) Genetic Engineering of Plants. Basic Life Sciences, vol 26. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-4544-2_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-4544-2_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4684-4546-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-4544-2

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