Plant Breeding and Genetics

Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) is a maternally inherited agronomic trait. The CMS lines cannot produce viable pollens (incomplete or nonfunctional), properly dehisce pollen, germinate on the stigma or be accessible to the stigma, thus unable to fertilize the ovule/ egg. Although CMS is not beneficial to the plants itself, it is a valuable resource for hybrid breeding. CMS is caused by the mitochondrial genome carrying chimeric genes (orfs), which frequently originate in the re-arrangements of the mitochondrial genome. The nuclear genome's restorer-of-fertility (Rf) gene suppresses the CMS conditions to restore fertility. The Rf genes interact with CMS-inducing genes at various levels to regulate their activity and restore fertility. In various crop species, different cytotypes carry specific CMS-inducing genes, which require a specific Rf gene for fertility restoration. Although some Rf genes can restore the fertility of more than one cytotype, most cytotypes require specific Rf genes.

For more information read 👇👇👇

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168945225003395

Pic from (Plant Science, 0168-9452/© 2025 Elsevier B.V.)

Brassica crops are vital for global agriculture and human nutrition. In recent years, climate change has emerged as major challenge, potentially yield, quality and overall plant fitness. Sulfur (S) is essential macronutrient required for plant growth and, stress tolerance. However, research gape exists to elucidate the role sulfur under stress conditions in Brassica crops. Therefore, a detailed understanding of sulfur uptake (S-uptake), use efficiency, and metabolism is required to clarify the role of sulfur in mediating stress responses in Brassica crops. S-uptake is influenced by several factors, including such as soil pH, microbial activity, and plant genetic variability.

For more details read 👇👇

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667064X26000758?via%3Dihub

🌱 Why do farmers have to buy hybrid seeds every year?

One major reason is that most hybrid crops cannot “fix” their hybrid vigor across generations. Scientists have been searching for ways to solve this problem—but progress has been limited, and often comes with issues like poor seed set or unstable ploidy.

🔍 Our new study, now published in Food and Energy Security (Wiley), explores a different approach.

🧬 We focused on egg cell-specific endopeptidases, proteins that act during fertilization. By precisely editing BnECS1 and BnECS2 using CRISPR-Cas9, we found that Brassica napus can produce maternal (self) haploids—without the typical penalties seen in earlier strategies.

🌾 Why this matters:
This opens a potential pathway toward hybrid fixation, where hybrid plants could maintain their genetic makeup across generations—reducing costs and increasing sustainability in crop breeding.

Proud of this work and grateful to the amazing team behind it 🙏
Happy to discuss with anyone interested in plant breeding, genome editing, or seed innovation!

Maternal Haploid Induction Through Egg Cell‐Specific Endopeptidases in Brassica napus: A Step Forward Towards Hybrid Fixation Hybrid fixation is an emerging breeding tool that eliminates the need to purchase costly hybrid seeds on an annual basis. However, this technique is limited to Arabidopsis, rice, and soybean with a s...

📢 New Publication | Frontiers in Plant Science (Frontiers)🌱
Our latest study identifies 29 Glutathione S-transferase (GST) genes in saffron (Crocus sativus), revealing their evolution, structure, and hormone-mediated stress regulation (JA & ABA) through genome-wide and in silico analyses.
🔬 Skills highlighted: Genomics | Bioinformatics | Stress Biology | Protein Modeling
🌸 Insights support future improvement of stress tolerance and valuable metabolites (crocin, safranal) in saffron.
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Frontiers | Genome-wide identification and in silico analysis of GSTs reveals hormone mediated stress response in saffron Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) are multifunctional enzymes in plants that facilitate stress management, detoxification of deleterious chemicals, and trans...

An overview of cytoplasmic male sterility in Brassica napus,

This review provide a compressive information of male sterility resources in B npasu and other cruciferous crops.

For more information pleases read:

https://www.publish.csiro.au/FP/FP24337

Pic credit CSIRO Publishing.

Gigas-Cell1 mediated in vivo haploid induction in Brassica napus: A step forward for hybrid development and crop improvement

Bakhsh and his collages uccessfully established a novel invivo haploid induction system in B. napus, by editing GIG1. A mutant lines was created which has the ability to induce haploids by using it as a male or female parent. The characteristics of this inducer line as a male or female can be helpful to transfer sterile cytoplasm among different varieties without transferring its own genetic makeup.

Read more : https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/pbi.70215

Pic Credit Wiley Plant Biotechnology Journal

Cruciferous plants' pungent defense mechanism: How repurposed stomatal genes also fend off herbivores

Delving deeper into the evolution of defense mechanisms, a research team led by Assistant Professor Makoto Shirakawa from Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST), identified a surprising genetic adaptation in the Brassicales plant order. In these cruciferous plants—including cabbage, mustard, and wasabi—genes originally used for gas exchange have been repurposed for defense. According to the study, FAMA, a protein primarily responsible for regulating gene expression for gas exchange, serves a dual role for cruciferous plants. Beyond controlling stomatal (tiny pores for gas exchange) guard cells, FAMA also helps to produce myrosin cells—the specialized structures that store mustard oil compounds. So, when a plant is damaged, these compounds create a sharp, pungent taste that repels herbivores.

for more details read
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-025-01921-1

Interested about the coloration of blood-red oranges. Blood-red oranges have higher market value due to its exceptional nutritional quality and health benefits. However the color formation is highly dependent on the cold weather.

Cathie Martin and her collages at John Innes center deciphered the molecular mechanism involved in the color formation. In Sicilian blood-red oranges Copia-like retrotransposon adjacent to MYB transcriptional activator of anthocyanin production gene (Ruby) is responsible for color formation. While a similar insertion is is identified in the Chinese origin blood-red orange. Both types have dependency on the cold for full coloration.

Read more

https://academic.oup.com/plcell/article/24/3/1242/6097241?login=false

Retrotransposons Control Fruit-Specific, Cold-Dependent Accumulation of Anthocyanins in Blood Oranges The cold dependency of pigment formation in blood orange constitutes a major limitation on production worldwide and is due to the cold induction of retrotr

Eggplant Tress.

Prof. Yuyang Zhang and his team developed a dominant hybrid eggplant tree (ET) by crossing wild eggplant (Solanum wrightii Benth and Solanum torvum), embryo rescue, and tissue culture. Compared with its parents, ET has a faster growth rate, more efficient nutrient and water uptake, and higher fibre content. However, the pollen morphology of ET was different from that of ST and pollen viability was reduced.
Read more

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304423824003029

Maid Zaman Naushad Ali

Unravelling the complex origin and breeding history of modern roses
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-024-01826-5.epdf?sharing_token=FhwWRQS9fgIOGE08rhiEJ9RgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0PEN3ahP9DVsVvph0hA9XwvydqJ7XLjpsVoRYYQiW-UzEHqPCu0r0TmrqqSatuXJ17ijVLvo5bDWW-4W8r_bmZmVeu-qPHS_GIBD2_F2jng17I6nBsbSOryEphQVUHbBLI%3D

The haplotype-resolved genome of tetraploid modern rose, plus a variation map of 233 wild and cultivated Rosa accessions
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-024-01820-x.epdf?sharing_token=ln6LQnse4n9WleEJgP4igtRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0OLNbIG1U1K1TvUWsmky9XfyHNEh5JrFkHuZPWm9_NK0B1aIJqPhqlnVkUL5GWJrGYOd2yKPkRR1MrmG6mY6pPNH7CbzfR-IkFYpIGCNLc0N70jPnWcA42SzIehz9k-Pjk%3D

Interested in understanding how cucumber fruit shape evolved??

Here is nice review describing the evolution an molecular mechanism underlying the morphology and development in cucumber.

https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nph.20192

PC: New Phytologist (https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.20192)