Fig. 5
From: Genomic structural variation-mediated allelic suppression causes hybrid male sterility in rice
A proposed model for the molecular genetic mechanism of Sc-mediated HMS. In a japonica–indica hybrid, the Sc-i paralogs are highly expressed in sporophytic cells and the product may interact with the Sc-j promoter region. This might cause transcriptional-repressive epigenetic modification(s) (red asterisk) in the Sc-j promoter region. This putative modification state (Sc-j*) could be retained, through meiosis, in the male gametophytes, thus causing allelic suppression of Sc-j expression and the consequent Sc-j-specific pollen abortion (HMS) and mTRD. Only two of the four pollen grains from a meiocyte, and one Sc-j copy and one set of Sc-i copies in the bicellular and tricellular pollen grains, are shown
