A chimeric open reading frame associated with cytoplasmic male sterility in alloplasmic wheat with Triticum timopheevi mitochondria is present in several Triticum and Aegilops species, barley, and rye.

Mitochondrial DNA from Triticum timopheevi has a chimeric gene, orf256, upstream of coxI. This gene is cotranscribed with coxI in cytoplasmic male sterile plants and produces a 7-kDa protein which is not produced in fertile or fertility-restored plants. T.