The present invention relates to methods for reducing pollen production in
plants. In particular, the present invention relates to a method of
reducing pollen production in plants, which comprises the steps of: a)
introducing into the nucleus of a plant cell a gene construct essentially
consisting of a developmentally regulated promoter driving expression of a
sequence encoding a mitochondrial transit peptide fused upstream of and in
frame with an edited form of the orf224 gene of Brassica napus
mitochondria, wherein said promoter is expressed in mid- to late-stage
stamen development; b) selecting for plant cells that have acquired the
gene construct in step a); and c) inducing regeneration of selected plant
cells to produce a mature plant with reduced pollen production.
