Partial male sterility in transgenic tobacco carrying an antisense gene for alternative oxidase under the control of a tapetum-specific promoter

The alternative oxidase of plant mitochondria is the terminal oxidase of the cyanide-insensitive respiratory pathway and is encoded by a nuclear gene. A 1 kb genomic fragment including exon 3 of the alternative oxidase was amplified by PCR from the genome of Arabidopsis thaliana. This fragment was connected to a tapetum-specific promoter in the antisense orientation and then introduced into tobacco. The pollen viability in three transgenic plants ranged from 2% to 60%. The reduced pollen viability cosegregated with the transgene in a selfed progeny. Immunolocalization of alternative oxidase protein in the immature flower bud section indicated that expression of alternative oxidase protein in tapetum of the transgenic plant was much lower than that of the non-transformant. The histological observation and protein gel-blot analysis showed that the development of pollen grains in the transgenic plant did not progress after the degradation of the tapetum, and the amount of alternative oxidase in pollen grains of the transgenic plant became lower than that of the non-transformant. These results suggested that the alternative oxidase activity in the tapetum has a significant effect on the pollen development. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.