Process for generating male sterile plants

US6262339A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Hoechst Schering Agrevo GmbH · DE

Inventors

• Rob Dirks · Maaseik, BE
• Klaus Trinks · Flörsheim, DE
• Bert Uijtewaal · Heythuysen, NL
• Klaus Bartsch · Steinbach, DE
• Roger Peeters · Oss, NL
• Rainer Hofgen · Berlin, DE
• Hans-Dieter Pohlenz · Berlin, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Apr 2, 1996
• Grant date: Jul 17, 2001
• Expiry date: Apr 2, 2016

Classification

• Technology area (CPC C): Chemistry; Metallurgy
• CPC primary: C12N15/8289
• WIPO field: Biotechnology
• WIPO sector: Chemistry

Abstract

The invention is directed to a process for the generation of male sterility in plants comprising the steps of (a) transforming a plant cell with DNA sequences that selectively inhibit the expression of essential metabolic compounds and (b) regenerating plants from said plant cells. Cells impaired in the biosynthesis of basic metabolic compounds undergo starvation and eventually die. Such pathways include amino acid biosynthesis, nucleic acid biosynthesis and other biosynthetic pathways such as citric acid cycle, pentose phosphate pathway, fatty acid metabolism, vitamin biosynthesis that will render the cell inactive due to nutrient depletion, if one or more enzymes or proteins involved in this pathway would become inactive by using inhibitory DNA constructs.