RNA sequencing of control and OJAP_WD37 knock out mutant in mature rice anthers. (oryza sativa jap.)

OJAP_WD37 was annotated as partial WD40 genes, whereas showed strong pollen-specific expression. We generated CRISPR-Cas9-induced loss-of-function mutants for OJAP_WD37 and identified homozygous lines with mutations at two independent target sites per gene. Compared to wild-type (WT) plants, fertility was markedly reduced in knockout mutants, a severe reduction to around 40%. Despite these defects, morphological examination of flowers, anthers, and pollen at the pollen maturation stage revealed no obvious differences between the WT and mutant plants. For the corresponding trascriptomic analysis, we sampled mature pollen anthers from a control group and mutant group.