Development of a semi-dwarf dominant genic male sterile wheat with seed red fluorescence as a visible marker.

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Taigu genic male-sterile wheat, containing the dominant gene () , shows completely male-sterility in different genetic background and under various environments. The development of Aibai wheat with tightly linked and (), offers possibility for identifying the male-sterile plants by investigation of reduced plant height. However, due to the extreme dwarfism of Aibai wheat caused by , it inhabits a shadowed microenvironment caused by its fertile sibling plants. This results in delayed maturation of sterile plant progeny. In order to develop a novel germplasm with new visible marker for sorting male sterile plants conferred by , a binary vector containing , , , and driven by the aleurone-specific promoter was constructed and introduced into the wheat Fielder using -mediated transformation in this study. After investigation of the fertility, plant height and seed fluorescence of positive transgenic wheat plants, a line exhibited semi-dwarf male sterility, which could be reliably identified by the aleurone-specifically expressed red fluorescence in seeds, serving as a genetically stable reporter. Therefore, this study provides a novel male-sterile wheat that offers a powerful tool for hybrid seed production and facilitates genetic improvement in wheat through recurrent selection.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11032-025-01571-3.