Szx2 illb stereomicroscope

Images of the tassels and anthers were captured with a Canon EOS 700D digital camera (Canon, Tokyo, Japan) and a SZX2-ILLB stereomicroscope (Olympus, Tokyo, Japan) respectively. Routine analysis of I₂-KI staining and SEM (scanning electron microscopy) were performed as described previously [44 (link)]. SEM images of anther and pollen grain were detected with a HITACHI S-3400N scanning electron microscope (HITACHI, Tokyo, Japan).

Maize inbred lines B73, Zheng 58 and M6007 and hybrid Hi II were used in this study. B73 and M6007, corresponding to the WT lines of maize GMS mutants lob30 and ms7‐6007, respectively, were originally obtained from the Maize Genetics Cooperation Stock Center (http://maizecoop.cropsci.uiuc.edu). Zheng58 and Hi II are maintained in our laboratory. All plants were grown in the experimental stations of the University of Sciences and Technology Beijing (USTB) in Beijing and Sanya, excepting T₀ transgenic plants that were grown in a greenhouse under long‐day conditions (16 h/8 h (day/night) at 26 °C/22 °C). A Canon EOS 700D digital camera and an SZX2‐ILLB stereomicroscope (Olympus, Japan) were used to photograph the images of tassels and anthers, respectively. Pollen grains were stained with a 1% I₂‐KI solution and captured using an Olympus SZ51 microscope (Olympus, Japan) (Zhang et al., 2018a (link)).

Phenotypic evaluation of embryos and larvae was performed using an Olympus SZX2-ILLB stereomicroscope (Olympus Corporation, Japan). Images were captured with an Olympus SC50 microscope camera (Olympus Corporation, Japan).