Male sterility has been used for crop hybrid breeding for a long time. It has contributed greatly to crop yield increase. However, the genetic basis of male sterility has not been fully elucidated. Here, we report map-based cloning of the cabbage (Brassica oleracea) dominant male-sterile gene Ms-cd1 and reveal that it encodes a PHD-finger motif transcription factor. A natural allele Ms-cd1PΔ-597, resulting from a 1-bp deletion in the promoter, confers dominant genic male sterility (DGMS), whereas loss-of-function ms-cd1 mutant shows recessive male sterility. We also show that the ethylene response factor BoERF1L represses the expression of Ms-cd1 by directly binding to its promoter; however, the 1-bp deletion in Ms-cd1PΔ-597 affects the binding. Furthermore, ectopic expression of Ms-cd1PΔ-597 confers DGMS in both dicotyledonous and monocotyledonous plant species. We thus propose that the DGMS system could be useful for breeding hybrids of multiple crop species.
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