Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Genetics logoLink to Genetics
. 1996 Jul;143(3):1383–1394. doi: 10.1093/genetics/143.3.1383

Mutator-Induced Mutations of the Rf1 Nuclear Fertility Restorer of T-Cytoplasm Maize Alter the Accumulation of T-Urf13 Mitochondrial Transcripts

R P Wise 1, C L Dill 1, P S Schnable 1
PMCID: PMC1207406  PMID: 8807309

Abstract

Dominant alleles of the rf1 and rf2 nuclear-encoded fertility restorer genes are necessary for restoration of pollen fertility in T-cytoplasm maize. To further characterize fertility restoration mediated by the Rf1 allele, 123,500 gametes derived from plants carrying the Mutator transposable element family were screened for rf1-mutant alleles (rf1-m) Four heritable rf1-m alleles were recovered from these populations. Three rf1-m alleles were derived from the progenitor allele Rf1-IA153 and one was derived from Rf1-Ky21. Cosegregation analysis revealed 5.5- and 2.4-kb Mu1-hybridizing EcoRI restriction fragments in all of the male-sterile and none of the male-fertile plants in families segregating for rf1-m3207 and rf1-m3310, respectively. Mitochondrial RNA gel blot analyses indicated that all four rf1-m alleles in male-sterile plants cosegregated with the altered steady-state accumulation of 1.6- and 0.6-kb T-urf13 transcripts, demonstrating that these transcripts are Rf1 dependent. Plants carrying a leaky mutant, rf1-m7323, revealed variable levels of Rf1-associated, T-urf13 transcripts and the degree of pollen fertility. The ability to obtain rf1-m derivatives from Rf1 indicates that Rf1 alleles produce a functional gene product necessary for the accumulation of specific T-urf13 transcripts in T-cytoplasm maize.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (7.7 MB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Braun C. J., Siedow J. N., Levings C. S., 3rd Fungal toxins bind to the URF13 protein in maize mitochondria and Escherichia coli. Plant Cell. 1990 Feb;2(2):153–161. doi: 10.1105/tpc.2.2.153. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Chandler V. L., Hardeman K. J. The Mu elements of Zea mays. Adv Genet. 1992;30:77–122. doi: 10.1016/s0065-2660(08)60319-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Church G. M., Gilbert W. Genomic sequencing. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1984 Apr;81(7):1991–1995. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.7.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Cui X., Wise R. P., Schnable P. S. The rf2 nuclear restorer gene of male-sterile T-cytoplasm maize. Science. 1996 May 31;272(5266):1334–1336. doi: 10.1126/science.272.5266.1334. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Dewey R. E., Levings C. S., 3rd, Timothy D. H. Novel recombinations in the maize mitochondrial genome produce a unique transcriptional unit in the Texas male-sterile cytoplasm. Cell. 1986 Feb 14;44(3):439–449. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90465-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Dewey R. E., Siedow J. N., Timothy D. H., Levings C. S., 3rd A 13-kilodalton maize mitochondrial protein in E. coli confers sensitivity to Bipolaris maydis toxin. Science. 1988 Jan 15;239(4837):293–295. doi: 10.1126/science.3276005. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Forde B. G., Leaver C. J. Nuclear and cytoplasmic genes controlling synthesis of variant mitochondrial polypeptides in male-sterile maize. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1980 Jan;77(1):418–422. doi: 10.1073/pnas.77.1.418. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Glab N., Wise R. P., Pring D. R., Jacq C., Slonimski P. Expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae of a gene associated with cytoplasmic male sterility from maize: respiratory dysfunction and uncoupling of yeast mitochondria. Mol Gen Genet. 1990 Aug;223(1):24–32. doi: 10.1007/BF00315793. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Huang J., Lee S. H., Lin C., Medici R., Hack E., Myers A. M. Expression in yeast of the T-urf13 protein from Texas male-sterile maize mitochondria confers sensitivity to methomyl and to Texas-cytoplasm-specific fungal toxins. EMBO J. 1990 Feb;9(2):339–347. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1990.tb08116.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Korth K. L., Kaspi C. I., Siedow J. N., Levings C. S., 3rd URF13, a maize mitochondrial pore-forming protein, is oligomeric and has a mixed orientation in Escherichia coli plasma membranes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1991 Dec 1;88(23):10865–10869. doi: 10.1073/pnas.88.23.10865. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Laughnan J. R., Gabay-Laughnan S. Cytoplasmic male sterility in maize. Annu Rev Genet. 1983;17:27–48. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ge.17.120183.000331. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Levings C. S., 3rd, Brown G. G. Molecular biology of plant mitochondria. Cell. 1989 Jan 27;56(2):171–179. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(89)90890-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Levings C. S., 3rd Thoughts on Cytoplasmic Male Sterility in cms-T Maize. Plant Cell. 1993 Oct;5(10):1285–1290. doi: 10.1105/tpc.5.10.1285. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Saghai-Maroof M. A., Soliman K. M., Jorgensen R. A., Allard R. W. Ribosomal DNA spacer-length polymorphisms in barley: mendelian inheritance, chromosomal location, and population dynamics. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1984 Dec;81(24):8014–8018. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.24.8014. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Schnable P. S., Wise R. P. Recovery of heritable, transposon-induced, mutant alleles of the rf 2 nuclear restorer of T-cytoplasm maize. Genetics. 1994 Mar;136(3):1171–1185. doi: 10.1093/genetics/136.3.1171. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Warmke H. E., Lee S. L. Pollen Abortion in T Cytoplasmic Male-Sterile Corn (Zea mays): A Suggested Mechanism. Science. 1978 May 5;200(4341):561–563. doi: 10.1126/science.200.4341.561. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Wise R. P., Pring D. R., Gengenbach B. G. Mutation to male fertility and toxin insensitivity in Texas (T)-cytoplasm maize is associated with a frameshift in a mitochondrial open reading frame. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 May;84(9):2858–2862. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.9.2858. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. von Allmen J. M., Rottmann W. H., Gengenbach B. G., Harvey A. J., Lonsdale D. M. Transfer of methomyl and HmT-toxin sensitivity from T-cytoplasm maize to tobacco. Mol Gen Genet. 1991 Oct;229(3):405–412. doi: 10.1007/BF00267463. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Genetics are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

RESOURCES