male-sterility
Male sterility in plants refers to the failure to produce functional pollen or male gametes, often arising from specific interactions between nuclear and mitochondrial genes known as cytoplasmic male sterility. This phenomenon is significant in plant breeding because it enables controlled cross-pollination without manual emasculation, facilitating the efficient production of hybrid seed varieties. Understanding the genetic and molecular mechanisms behind male sterility helps researchers develop improved cultivars with desirable traits such as higher yield and disease resistance.
open_in_new WikipediaEurope PMC · 2026-03-19
Researchers identified how a plant hormone called jasmonate controls pollen viability and flower opening in cucumbers. They traced a precise molecular chain of events linking this hormone to male fertility, offering a new target for breeding male-sterile cucumber varieties used in hybrid seed production.
Cucumber mutants unable to produce jasmonate developed ruptured, nonviable pollen and petals that failed to open, confirming jasmonate is essential for male fertility in this species.
Spraying mutant plants with a synthetic form of jasmonate (MeJA) fully rescued pollen viability and restored normal flower opening, demonstrating the effect is hormone-specific and reversible.
A three-step regulatory cascade was mapped: the protein CsMYC2 activates two WRKY transcription factors, which in turn suppress a cell-wall remodeling gene (CsXTH33), enabling normal stamen and pollen development.
