Male sterility in crops: application of human intelligence to natural variation

Global food security faces a severe challenge, as world population is predicted to grow by 25% and reach 10 billion by the mid-21st century [1]. With limited agricultural land and fresh water, greater and more sustainable crop production needs to be achieved by use of modern agricultural technologies [2,3]. Among these are developing and exploiting more efficient heterosis utilization strategy with male sterile lines for hybrid breeding and seed production.