A cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) system in durum wheat

Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) systems are based in the incompatible interaction between nucleus and cytoplasm and are commonly used for hybrid seed production in many crop species. The msH1 CMS system in common wheat results from the incompatibility between the nuclear genome of wheat and the cytoplasm of Hordeum chilense. Fertility restoration of the CMS phenotype is associated with the addition of the short arm of chromosome 6Hch from H. chilense. In this work, we attempt to transfer the msH1 system to durum wheat and to evaluate its potential as a new source of CMS for the production of hybrid durum wheat. For that purpose, an alloplasmic durum wheat line was developed by substituting wheat cytoplasm by that from H. chilense. This line was completely male sterile. Also, the double translocation T6HchS·6DL was transferred from common wheat into durum wheat, to test its potential as a restorer line. Finally, the system was tested by using the double T6HchS·6DL translocation in durum wheat as pollen donor for the alloplasmic male sterile line, which confirmed the fertility restoration ability of 6HchS in durum wheat