Patent ID: 7759544

Claim:
A method of maintaining a homozygous recessive condition of a male sterile plant, the method comprising: (a) providing a first plant comprising homozygous recessive alleles of the Ms26 gene wherein said plant is male sterile, (b) introducing a construct into a second plant, the second plant comprising homozygous recessive alleles of the Ms26 gene, the construct in the hemizygous condition, the construct comprising: (i) a first nucleotide sequence comprising the Ms26 nucleotide sequence, wherein said first nucleotide sequence is selected from the group consisting of a) a sequence encoding the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 4, b) the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 3; c) a sequence having at least 90% identity to SEQ ID NO: 3, over the full length of said sequence; d) a sequence having at least 95% identity to SEQ ID NO: 3, over the full length of said sequence; and e) a sequence which hybridizes to the full length of SEQ ID NO: 3 under highly stringent conditions of a wash of 0.1 SSC, 0.1% (w/v) SDS at 65° C., that when expressed in the first plant would restore male fertility; (ii) a second nucleotide sequence that when expressed inhibits the function or formation of viable male gametes in the second plant, such that viable male gametes are produced in the second plant, wherein said viable male gametes contain the recessive alleles of Ms26 and do not contain the construct; and (c) fertilizing the first plant with the male gametes of the second plant to produce progeny which maintain the homozygous recessive condition of the first plant.