Claim · model-written summary
Seeds from homozygous CIAO+/+ plants can be identified by high DsRed fluorescence, and the resulting plants produce 100% brightly fluorescent seeds.
- Taxon
- Arabidopsis thaliana
Arabidopsis thalianae0 - Outcome
- brightly fluorescent seedse1
- Value
- 100%e1
Not reportedMaterialGeneCompoundOrgan / stageInteractorInteractor roleSecond interactorSecond interactor roleTreatmentComparatorSettingDirectionQualifier
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Verbatim
e0“proof-of-concept data in Arabidopsis thaliana”
e1“Such seeds can be identified by high DsRed fluorescence and the resulting plants produce 100% brightly fluorescent seeds, indicating homozygosity”
Title
A New Breeding Technique for F1 Hybrid Production From Self‐Incompatible Species
Rowan P. Herridge; Prasanthi Namburi; Shiny Varghese; et al. Plant Biotechnology Journal 2026. doi:10.1111/pbi.70632
Other claims from this paper (14)
- Method / resource Arabidopsis plants from non-fluorescent seed (CIAO null) were self-sterile and produced virtually no seed.
- Method / resource Arabidopsis CIAO+/- plants from fluorescent seed showed high levels of seed production when selfed.
- Method / resource A similar construct with an artificial miRNA also disrupted self-incompatibility, but to a lesser degree and only in a subset of plants.
- Method / resource The fluorescent to non-fluorescent seed ratio from CIAO+/- plants was typically about 50%, confirming pollen-lethal-cassette activity.
- Observation Outcrossed seeds from SRKb/SCRb plants pollinated by CIAO+/- plants were non-fluorescent.
- Observation In lines with more than 50% fluorescent seed on selfing, few fluorescent seed were produced when outcrossed, indicating multiple T-DNA insertions rather than pollen-lethal-cassette failure.
- Observation In F2 and F3 generations, CIAO+/- plants were self-fertile.
- Observation In F2 and F3 generations, CIAO-/- null-segregants reverted to self-incompatibility, producing few or no seeds.
- Method / resource CIAO+/- plants produced less seed than wild-type C24 plants (about 20-60% yield per plant), which the authors consider likely sufficient for breeding.
- Mechanism Seed production varied between CIAO+/- plants, likely due to incomplete knockdown of SRKb combined with environmental factors.
- Observation When SI CIAO-/- C24 plants were pollinated by ecotype Sha without emasculation, seed was readily produced, suggesting outcrossing was occurring.
- Observation A TUBULIN SNP/indel difference between C24 and Sha was heterozygous in 10/10 F1 individuals tested, confirming outcrossing.
- Observation Pre-flowering growth and flowering time of CIAO+/- and CIAO-/- plants were similar in two independent CIAO lines.
- Recommendation The authors expect CIAO to be useful in Brassicaceae with sporophytic self-incompatibility such as cabbage, mustard and radish.