Transgenic RF1 plants contain the barstar gene, isolated from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. The barstar gene codes for a ribonuclease inhibitor (barstar enzyme) expressed only in the tapetum cells of the pollen sac during anther development. The ribonuclease inhibitor (barstar enzyme) inhibits barnase RNAse expressed by lines engineered to be male steril and together, the RNAse and the ribonuclease inhibitor form a very stable one-to-one complex, in which the RNAse is inactivated. As a result, when pollen from the restorer line RF1 is crossed to a male sterile line, the resultant progeny express the RNAse inhibitor in the tapetum cells of the anthers, allowing hybrid plants to develop normal anthers and restoring fertility.

RF1 was also engineered to express tolerance to glufosinate ammonium, the active ingredient in phosphinothricin herbicides (Basta®, Rely®, Finale®, and Liberty®). Glufosinate chemically resembles the amino acid glutamate and acts to inhibit an enzyme, called glutamine synthetase, which is involved in the synthesis of glutamine. Essentially, glufosinate acts enough like glutamate, the molecule used by glutamine synthetase to make glutamine, that it blocks the enzyme's usual activity. Glutamine synthetase is also involved in ammonia detoxification. The action of glufosinate results in reduced glutamine levels and a corresponding increase in concentrations of ammonia in plant tissues, leading to cell membrane disruption and cessation of photosynthesis resulting in plant withering and death.

Glufosinate tolerance in this canola line was the result of introducing a gene encoding the enzyme phosphinothricin-N-acetyltransferase (PAT) isolated from the common aerobic soil actinomycete, Streptomyces hygroscopicus. The PAT enzyme catalyzes the acetylation of phosphinothricin, detoxifying it into an inactive compound. The PAT enzyme is not known to have any toxic properties.