Genetic and cytological analysis of a rice male sterile mutant tda derived from radiation mutation

In order to excavate more genes related to rice anther development, one rice male sterility mutant tda (tapetum degradation anther) was isolated from a japonica rice Songxiangzaogeng through ⁶⁰Co-γ rays irradiation. The characteristic of tda cytological and genetic was investigated. The result showed that, there was no obvious phenotype difference appeared during tda vegetative development stage, the tda anther was small and white although the inflorescence and floral development was normal during the reproductive growth stage. The paraffin sections analysis exhibited that, until meiosis stage, there was no clear difference was observed between tda and wild type anthers. At the microspore stage, tda tapetum displayed aberrant predegradation and the microspore was irregular. Subsequently, the tda microspore was gradually shrinked and could not develop into mature pollen. The genetic analysis found that, tda phenotype was controlled by a single recessive nuclear gene. These results laid a basis for TDA gene cloning, functional analysis and the molecular mechanism research of rice anther development. (authors)