A pentatricopeptide repeat protein restores nap cytoplasmic male sterility in Brassica napus

Two forms of male-sterile cytoplasm, designated nap and pol, are found in the oilseed rape species, Brassica napus. The nap cytoplasm is observed in most B. napus varieties, and it confers male sterility on a limited number of cultivars that lack the corresponding restorer gene, Rfn. In the present study, using linkage analysis in combination with 5652 BC1 progeny derived from a cross between a nap cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) line 181A and a restorer line H5, we delimited the Rfn gene to a 10.5 kb region on chromosome A09, which contained three putative ORFs. Complementation by transformation rescue revealed that the introduction of ORF2, which encodes a pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) protein, resulted in the recovery of fertility of nap CMS plants. Expression analysis suggested that the Rfn was highly expressed in flower buds and it was preferentially expressed in the tapetum and meiocytes during anther development. Further RNA gel blots and immunodetection suggested that the Rfn gene may play a complicated role in restoring the nap CMS. Our work laid the foundation for dissecting the molecular basis of CMS fertility restoration and the nuclear-mitochondrial interactions in CMS/Rf systems.