The present invention relates to methods and compositions for identifying, selecting and/or producing a maize plant or plant part having increased fertility. A maize plant or plant part that has been identified, selected and/or produced by any of the methods of the present invention is also provided.

The present invention belongs to the field of biotechnology, in particular to a hybrid breeding method for maize, which comprises sterile line reproduction and hybrid seed production, and more particularly to plant FL1 gene or alleles thereof, as well as mutant plants produced by the variation of the gene.

The present invention relates to an eggplant seed that is capable of growing into a plant that is cytoplasmic male sterile and can produce eggplant fruits without fertilization. The present invention also relates to a plant produced by growing the eggplant. The invention further relates to methods for producing the seedless eggplant fruits.

A newly identified protein that is encoded by a polynucleotide sequence associated with cytoplasmic male sterility restorer activity (Rf3) is described. The cytoplasmic male sterility restorer gene can be inserted through breeding introgression into plant genomes to restore cytoplasmic male sterility in plants. Further applications of the newly identified polynucleotide sequence associated with cytoplasmic male sterility restorer activity include a mutation (rf3) which results in cytoplasmic male sterility. The cytoplasmic male sterility restorer gene can be inserted through breeding introgression into plant genomes to result in cytoplasmic male sterility in plants. Methods for detecting the cytoplasmic male sterility restorer (Rf3) and the cytoplasmic male sterility (rf3) gene sequences are further described.

A method for breeding a small-grain male-sterile rice line and a simple method for producing a hybrid rice seed are provided. The method for breeding the small-grain sterile rice line includes the following steps: crossing a female parent C815S with a male parent Qigui B to obtain a hybrid seed F1; planting the F1 and crossing the F1 with a female parent H155S to obtain a crossed hybrid seed F1; planting the crossed hybrid seed F1 to obtain a F2 generation; planting an individual plant with ideal plant type, strong tillering, plant dwarf and small grain type from the F2 generation and a F3 generation, and then directional breeding more than two generations to obtain a seed with more than F5 generation as the small-grain sterile rice line.

Disclosed is a cytoplasmic male sterile plant of the genus Petunia having, in the mitochondrial genome thereof, a DNA molecule originated from the mitochondrial genome of a tobacco plant, or a hybrid plant with the cytoplasmic male sterile plant of the genus Petunia, or a progeny of the cytoplasmic male sterile plant of the genus Petunia or the hybrid plant. The cytoplasmic male sterile plant of the genus Petunia is a stable line in which the growth ability of young seedlings is improved and which is not susceptible to fertility restoration, and further, achieves diversification of available CMS cytoplasms.

A newly identified protein that is encoded by a polynucleotide sequence associated with cytoplasmic male sterility restorer activity (Rf3) is described. The cytoplasmic male sterility restorer gene can be inserted through breeding introgression into plant genomes to restore cytoplasmic male sterility in plants. Further applications of the newly identified polynucleotide sequence associated with cytoplasmic male sterility restorer activity include a mutation (rf3) which results in cytoplasmic male sterility. The cytoplasmic male sterility restorer gene can be inserted through breeding introgression into plant genomes to result in cytoplasmic male sterility in plants. Methods for detecting the cytoplasmic male sterility restorer (Rf3) and the cytoplasmic male sterility (rf3) gene sequences are further described.

The present disclosure relates to a fertility gene and the use thereof, and relates to the biotechnology field, particularly to a method of plant hybrid breeding including creation of a sterile line and preparation of hybrid seeds, more particularly to a fertility gene FL2, a mutant thereof and use thereof in hybrid breeding.

The present disclosure relates to an expression vector for restoring male sterility in a plant. The expression vector comprises a regulatory region sequence operably linked to a heterologous nucleotide sequence.

Compositions and methods for effecting the transfer of the CMS trait in plants are disclosed.