The present invention provides a method for disrupting pollen development
in a plant, the method comprising inhibiting the expression of an
endogenous nucleic acid molecule which is, under normal conditions,
detectably expressed in anther tissue of a plant during pollen formation,
and which codes for a protein belonging to the MYB class of DNA binding
transcription factors. Particularly, the nucleic acid molecule whose
expression is blocked encodes MYB 32 or MYB 103. The invention also
provides nucleic acid molecules for use in the method, use of the method
in producing male sterile plants and transgenic plants produced in
accordance with the method.