| Summary: | Food security is important to feed a growing global population in a changing climate. Heterosis (the phenomenon of increased yield in hybrid crops) is a significant way to maximise crop yields without increasing input. One difficulty with breeding hybrid plants is preventing self-fertilisation, and there is therefore interest in male sterile plants in commercial crop systems. This can be achieved by controlling development or release of pollen.
MYB26 has been shown to be a key driver of anther endothecium secondary thickening, which is critical for anther dehiscence, working via NAC transcription factors NST1/NST2. Here mathematical modelling is used to suggest that NST2 upregulates MYB26 at the post-translational level. Other anther endothecium genes are investigated with the F-box protein SAF1 being shown to be downregulated by MYB26 and seeming to negatively regulate NST2 accumulation. A potential network using these observations is hypothesised and further equations to test out this hypothesis in the model are suggested.
Possible SAF1 orthologues and redundant genes are identified and investigated. Knock out lines of these genes were investigated to determine their role in the network.
TGA9, and its orthologue TGA10 have been shown to encode proteins which interact affect MYB26 and double knockout lines to be anther indehiscent. Their role in relation to SAF1 is investigated.
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