Identification of the fertility restoration locus, Rfo, in radish, as a member of the pentatricopeptide-repeat protein family

EMBO Rep. 2003 Jun;4(6):588-94. doi: 10.1038/sj.embor.embor848.

Abstract

Ogura cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) in radish (Raphanus sativus) is caused by an aberrant mitochondrial gene, Orf138, that prevents the production of functional pollen without affecting female fertility. Rfo, a nuclear gene that restores male fertility, alters the expression of Orf138 at the post-transcriptional level. The Ogura CMS/Rfo two-component system is a useful model for investigating nuclear-cytoplasmic interactions, as well as the physiological basis of fertility restoration. Using a combination of positional cloning and microsynteny analysis of Arabidopsis thaliana and radish, we genetically and physically delimited the Rfo locus to a 15-kb DNA segment. Analysis of this segment shows that Rfo is a member of the pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) family. In Arabidopsis, this family contains more than 450 members of unknown function, although most of them are predicted to be targeted to mitochondria and chloroplasts and are thought to have roles in organellar gene expression.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Arabidopsis / genetics
  • Cell Nucleus / metabolism
  • Chloroplasts / metabolism
  • Chromosome Mapping
  • Cloning, Molecular
  • Cytoplasm / metabolism
  • Databases as Topic
  • Genes, Plant*
  • Genetic Markers
  • Mitochondria / metabolism
  • Models, Genetic
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Phylogeny
  • Physical Chromosome Mapping
  • Plant Proteins / metabolism
  • Raphanus / genetics*
  • Sequence Homology, Amino Acid

Substances

  • Genetic Markers
  • Plant Proteins

Associated data

  • GENBANK/AJ550021