A RESTORER GENE FOR GENETIC-CYTOPLASMIC MALE-STERILITY IN CULTIVATED POTATOES

Fifty-nine clones (cultivars and advanced selections) of Solanum tuberosum Group Tuberosum were pollinated with two Group Phureja-haploid Tuberosum hybrids, which produce FDR 2n pollen (ps/ps) and are heterozygous for a dominant gene (Ms/ms) which interacts with Tuberosum cytoplasm to result in male sterility. Twenty-eight and thirty-four plants from each family were transplanted to the field in two different locations, respectively. Pollen samples were collected from each plant and stained with acetocarmine glycerol jelly. Plants with over 95% unstainable pollen were considered male sterile. The families could be put into distinct classes according to the ratio of male sterile to male fertile plants; 3 sterile: 1 fertile (23 clones), 2 sterile: 3 fertile (24 clones), 1 sterile: 5 fertile (3 clones), and 0 sterile: 1 fertile (3 clones). Four families deviated significantly from any expected ratio. The variation for male fertility among families resides in the tetraploid parent, since the male parents have the same genotype (Ms/ms) for the Ms locus. The locus of this gene is very distal to the centromere such the 2n gametic output is 1 Ms/Ms: 2 Ms/ms: 1 ms/ms. The variation in male sterility is explained by the presence or absence of a dominant allele of a restorer gene (Rt) in tetraploid Tuberosum. This locus is also very distal to the centromere. The frequency of the Rt gene was estimated to be 0.20 in Tuberosum. The finding of Rt gene explains some of the conflicting results in male fertility of haploid Tuberosum x 2x cultivated and wild species hybrids. It also provides an opportunity to partially circumvent this male sterility. Haploids (2n = 2x = 24) extracted from 4x clones with Rt genes would have male fertile progeny in crosses with species carrying the Ms gene.