Unveiling a half‐century mystery of molecular bases for three‐line hybrid rice breeding system.

This article, published in the Journal of Integrative Plant Biology, discusses the molecular bases for the three-line hybrid rice breeding system. The authors focus on the fertility restoration gene Rf4 and its impact on the Wild Abortive (WA) cytoplasmic male sterility type three-line system. They identify a two-copy haplotype of Rf4 (H1) as the most valuable for future hybrid rice breeding. The study provides insights into the evolutionary trajectory of Rf genes and the origin of cytoplasmic male sterility and fertility restoration systems in rice breeding. The findings contribute to our understanding of the CMS/Rf system and offer guidance for the molecular design breeding of three-line hybrid rice. [Extracted from the article]