Male Sterility of Chinese Cabbage, Wheat and Rice: Cell Biological Research on the Process of Anther Abortion

Male sterility of higher plants is a valuable trait used to improve agricultural crops through hybridization. Pollen abortion is a complex and complicated process and the mechanisms involved are actively being studied. Recently, new data on the structure and function of the tapetal cell, changes in Ca distribution, ATPase activity distribution and programmed cell death in anther cells were obtained using cell biology. These data have helped identify the process of pollen abortion and illuminated the mechanisms of male sterility of higher plants, and provide an important link between research on male sterility at the individual and molecular levels. This paper summarizes the recent data regarding the aborting process of male-sterile anthers of Chinese cabbage, wheat and rice obtained using cell biology. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________