Patent ID: 8293970

Claim:
A method of restoring fertility to a male sterile plant, wherein (a) said male sterile plant is produced by impacting the expression of a first nucleic acid in a plant, said first nucleic acid having a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of: (i) SEQ ID NO: 1; (ii) a nucleotide sequence encoding an amino acid sequence comprising SEQ ID NO: 2; (iii) a nucleotide sequence having at least 90% identity to the full length of any of the foregoing sequences of (i)-(ii), wherein the sequence is critical to male fertility in a plant; (iv) a nucleotide sequence having at least 95% identity to the full length of any of the foregoing sequences of (i)-(ii), wherein the sequence is critical to male fertility in a plant; and (v) a nucleotide sequence which hybridizes to the full length complement any of the foregoing sequences of (i)-(ii) under highly stringent conditions of a wash of 0.1 SSC, 0.1% (w/v) SDS at 65° C., wherein the sequence is critical to male fertility in a plant; and (b) a second nucleic acid is introduced into said male sterile plant, said second nucleic acid having a nucleotide sequence having at least 95% identity to the full length of SEQ ID NO: 1 or to the full length of a nucleic acid encoding SEQ ID NO: 2.