Patent ID: 7741541
Filing Date: 2010-06-22
Classification: C12N

Abstract:
1. A DNA construct containing two different coding sequences of a fertility restorer gene, both of which encode the same protein product, the first of said sequences being a naturally occurring wild type gene sequence and the second of said sequences being a modified sequence generated by modification of the wild type sequence using codon degeneracy for expression in crop plants to avoid homology between the modified sequence and the wild type sequence at the DNA and mRNA levels so as to reduce susceptibility to homology-based post-transcriptional gene silencing, said wild type and said modified gene sequences being under the control of first and second tapetum-specific promoters, respectively, wherein said first and second tapetum-specific promoters have overlapping temporal expression patterns in tapetum tissues of said crop plants, wherein said first tapetum-specific promoter is used to express a male sterility gene in corresponding male sterile plants, and wherein expression from said second tapetum-specific promoter begins earlier than said first tapetum-specific promoter.