A natural mutation in the promoter of Ms-cd1 causes dominant male sterility in Brassica oleracea

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 14; no. 1; pp. 6212 - 15
• Main Authors: Han, Fengqing, Yuan, Kaiwen, Sun, Wenru, Zhang, Xiaoli, Liu, Xing, Zhao, Xinyu, Yang, Limei, Wang, Yong, Ji, Jialei, Liu, Yumei, Li, Zhansheng, Zhang, Jinzhe, Zhang, Chunzhi, Huang, Sanwen, Zhang, Yangyong, Fang, Zhiyuan, Lv, Honghao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 05.10.2023; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 38/23; 38/44; 631/208/8; 631/449/2679/1743; 631/449/711; 631/61/447/8; Binding; Brassica; Brassica - genetics; Brassica oleracea; Breeding; Cloning; Crop yield; Crops; Ectopic expression; Gene deletion; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Hybrids; Infertility, Male; Male; Male sterility; Males; multidisciplinary; Mutants; Mutation; Plant Breeding; Plant Infertility - genetics; Plant species; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Transcription factors
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41916-0

Male sterility has been used for crop hybrid breeding for a long time. It has contributed greatly to crop yield increase. However, the genetic basis of male sterility has not been fully elucidated. Here, we report map-based cloning of the cabbage ( Brassica oleracea ) dominant male-sterile gene Ms-cd1 and reveal that it encodes a PHD-finger motif transcription factor. A natural allele Ms-cd1 PΔ−597 , resulting from a 1-bp deletion in the promoter, confers dominant genic male sterility (DGMS), whereas loss-of-function ms-cd1 mutant shows recessive male sterility. We also show that the ethylene response factor BoERF1L represses the expression of Ms-cd1 by directly binding to its promoter; however, the 1-bp deletion in Ms-cd1 PΔ−597 affects the binding. Furthermore, ectopic expression of Ms-cd1 PΔ−597 confers DGMS in both dicotyledonous and monocotyledonous plant species. We thus propose that the DGMS system could be useful for breeding hybrids of multiple crop species. A dominant genic male sterility (DGMS) mutant of Brassica oleracea was identified in 1970s and has been widely used for hybrid cabbage breeding, but its genetic basis is unclear. Here, the authors reveal that a 1-bp deletion in the promoter of the gene encoding a PHD-finger motif transcription factor is responsible for DGMS.