Expression characterization of genes for CMS-C in maize

Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS)-C is one of the most attractive sources of male sterility in the production of hybrid maize. However, the abortion mechanism of CMS-C is currently unknown. The major aim of this work was to characterize the expression of genes and proteins during pollen abortion. The materials assayed included CMS-C line C48-2, its maintainer line N48-2, and fertile F(1) (C48-2 × 18 white). A total of 20 unique genes and 25 proteins were identified by suppression subtractive hybridization and 2-D electrophoresis, respectively. Most of the genes and proteins identified are closely related to energy metabolism, stress responses, molecular chaperones, and cell death, which are generally considered to be essential to pollen development. Based on the function of these identified genes and proteins, reactive oxygen species in isolated mitochondria and DNA fragments were analyzed. The results from this study indicate that the oxidative stress which was associated with the specific expression patterns of some genes may be the physiological cause for the abortion of premature microspores in the maize CMS-C line.