Screening and Preliminary Analysis of A Female Gametophyte Sterile Mutant in Rice

We isolated a female gamete to a fertility-related mutant,from a T-DNA insertional population of indica rice.The transgenic plants carrying a T-DNA insertion displayed phenomena that hygromycin resistance and sensitivity segregation ratios showed 1∶1 by 2-test and the homozygous progeny was not found in 6 successive generations.Reciprocal crosses between heterozygous plants and the wild types showed that the allele could not be transmitted through the female.Statistical analysis showed that the ripening rate of exogenous marker gene hpt with the plant has occurred almost half of the female gamete abortion,embryo sac fertility and closely linked to the hpt gene.Southern-blot showed that the mutant carried with a copy of T-DNA insertion.All of these indicated that the mutant is a gametophyte ovary sterile mutant caused by T-DNA insertion(tentatively named as female gametogenesis sterile 1,fgs1).Cytologic observation showed that pollen fertility of fgs1 was as normal as the wild type minghui 86,but the development of female gamete was blocked.In the female gamete of fgs1 mutant,we found that egg cell(E),synergids(S),antipodal cells(A)and polar nuclei(P)appeared disaggregation one by one during the 8 nucleuses period and the fertilization halted.