In-silico identification of candidate fertility restorer genes for CMS

Contact person: Timothy Sykes

Partners: Istvan Nagy, Steven Yates, Torben Asp and Bruno Studer

Project description: This project aims to utilise sequence data to identify candidate genomic region(s) responsible for fertility restoration of cytoplasmic male sterility in perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.).

Cytoplasmic Male Sterility (CMS) is a valuable breeding tool, not yet available in perennial ryegrass, which is used to control pollination in breeding programs. CMS is a maternally inherited trait characterised by the inability of an individual plant to produce viable pollen and is caused by aberrant transcripts originating from the mitochondria. Male fertility can be restored through the action of nuclear genes. To identify these genes, an in silico study of both genomic and transcriptomic data will identify an important family of genes within the perennial ryegrass genome; the pentatricopeptides (PPRs). PPRs are responsible for fertility restoration of CMS in other grass species such as rice and brachypodium. From the PPR gene family, restorer of fertility-like PPRs (RFLs) will be identified narrowing down the candidate restorer genes to 10-30. From this data, and using comparisons to other species, the probable genome locations of any PPR-Rf gene will be elucidated.