The Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences has developed a new hybridization technology

, July 9 (Xinhua) -- Researchers at the China Agricultural
Crop Science Research Institute have used gene editing technology to develop new technologies for the creation of nuclear infertility systems and their maintained systems, providing an efficient technology solution for the third generation of hybrid breeding.
this is the reporter 9 from China's
learned. According to Xie Chuanxiao, the head of the study and a researcher at the China Agricultural
Crop Science Research Institute, China's annual corn planting area of more than 600 million mu, almost all hybrid varieties, and the creation and utilization of male infertility system is the key technology of hybrid breeding. Crop male infertility refers to the abnormal development of plant males, can not produce functional pollen, but the female development is normal, can be strong phenomenon. Every advance in crop male infertility technology has made great contributions to agriculture, such as the "three-system" hybrid rice based on cytocytosteric infertility and the "two-system" hybrid rice based on light temperature sensitive infertility system have been widely used.
In order to overcome the strict restoration system restrictions of the "three-system method" and the dependence of the "two-system method" on uncontrollable environmental factors such as light temperature, with the development of molecular biology and modern biotechnology, the third generation hybridization technology based on the cell nuclear infertility system has come into being, but the relevant steps are still cumbersome.
after the researchers targeted the functional domain of the corn breeding gene, the parent of the target hybrid was transformed into a maintaining system, which can be applied to hybrid breeding and inbreeding. Xie explained that this maintained system, created using gene editing technology, will have two kinds of offspring when it breeds on its own: one is an infertility seed, which can be used as a mother for hybrid breeding, and the other is a seed that appears red under fluorescent lights and can be identified by the naked eye or machine, thus achieving non-destructive sorting of the remaining and infertile seeds.
refore, after using this technology to breed new varieties, no longer need manual or mechanical to male in the process of breeding, can achieve a "one-step" system, improve efficiency and reduce costs. De-male refers to the removal of male flowers, which is a technical measure for the production of hybrid seeds.
, Xie Chuanxiao, said the same technical strategy can also be applied to hybrid breeding and production of rice, millet, wheat, sorghum and other crops. The research paper was published online on the 8th in the international academic journal Molecular Plants.