IDENTIFICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF PARALLEL SPINDLE GENES TO RESTORE HAPLOID MALE FERTILITY IN MAIZE DH BREEDING TECHNOLOGY

Our previous research in Arabidopsis informed us that mutations in parallel spindle (PS) genes are sufficient to restore haploid male fertility in Arabidopsis. The major goal of this project is to identify and characterize homologous PS genes that can restore haploid male fertility (HMF) in maize haploids and to evaluate their applicability in various maize genetic backgrounds.The objectives of this study are to:(1) identify zmps and zmjason (collectively, ps) mutations that restore HMF in maize,(2) characterize the maize spontaneous doubled haploids resulting from ps mutations,(3) characterize the diploid maize ps mutants, and(4) conduct a pilot study to determine whether ps mutations can restore HMF in maize in different genetic backgrounds.