Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences develops new technology for hybrid seed production

Researchers from the Institute of Crop Science of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences have used gene editing technology to develop a new technology to create a sterile line and its maintainer, providing an efficient technical solution for the third-generation hybrid seed production

This is what the reporter learned from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences on the 9th

In order to overcome the strict restorer line limitation of the "three-line method" and the dependence of the "two-line method" on uncontrollable environmental factors such as light and temperature, with the development of molecular biology and modern biotechnology, the third-generation hybridization based on the nuclear sterile line Seed production technology came into being, but the related steps are still cumbersome

After researchers perform site-directed deletion of the functional domain of the maize fertility gene, the female parent of the target hybrid is transformed into a maintainer line, which can be applied to hybrid seed production and parental reproduction

Therefore, after breeding new varieties with this technology, manual or mechanical emasculation is no longer required during seed production, and "one-step" seed production can be realized, which improves efficiency and reduces costs

Xie Chuanxiao said that the same technical strategy can also be applied to the hybrid breeding and seed production of rice, millet, wheat, sorghum and other crops