Genetics of fertility restoration in the C-group of cytoplasmic male sterility in maize

The genetics of fertility restoration of cms-C group cytoplasm of maize was studied using crosses involving stable maintainer lines and lines that restored full pollen fertility. Pollen fertility in the sources of cms-C sterile cytoplasms studied was restored by a single dominant restorer (Rf4) gene. The fertility restoration was sporophytic. Allelism tests among five restorer lines showed that they all apparently carried the same alleles (Rf4 Rf4). Similar tests also demonstrated that seven nonrestoring maintainer lines had apparently the same genotype (rf4 rf4), although a partial "late break" of fertility was observed at low levels in some maintainer crosses. Comparative studies among different cms-C sources (C, Bb, ES, PR and RB) indicated that similar inheritance of fertility restoration was involved. The data indicated that a single, dominant Rf gene is involved in the restoration of several C-group cytoplasms, at least in the lines studied here. This is the first single-gene, sporophytic restorer system described in maize to date.