Production of hybrid rice seed is laborious and costly, because the restorer lines providing pollen need to be removed before seed harvesting to avoid contamination of undesired inbred seeds. In a recent Cell Research paper, Li et al. report that a spontaneous mutation in ARGONAUTE7 could lead to thermosensitive female sterility, which enables fully mechanized hybrid seed production in rice.

Production of hybrid rice seed is laborious and costly, because the restorer lines providing pollen need to be removed before seed harvesting to avoid contamination of undesired inbred seeds. In a recent Cell Research paper, Li et al. report that a spontaneous mutation in ARGONAUTE7 could lead to thermosensitive female sterility, which enables fully mechanized hybrid seed production in rice.

Production of hybrid rice seed is laborious and costly, because the restorer lines providing pollen need to be removed before seed harvesting to avoid contamination of undesired inbred seeds. In a recent Cell Research paper, Li et al. report that a spontaneous mutation in ARGONAUTE7 could lead to thermosensitive female sterility, which enables fully mechanized hybrid seed production in rice.