The canola lines MS1 and RF1 were developed using genetic engineering techniques to provide a pollination control system for the production of hybrid oilseed rape (MS1xRF1) expressing male sterility and tolerance to glufosinate ammonium. The novel hybridization system involves the use of two parental lines, a male sterile line MS1 and a fertility restorer line RF1. The transgenic MS1 plants do not produce viable pollen grains and cannot self-pollinate. In order to completely restore fertility in the hybrid progeny, line MS1 must be pollinated by a modified plant containing a fertility restorer gene, such as line RF1. The resultant F1 hybrid seed, derived from the cross between MS1 x RF1, generates hybrid plants that produce pollen and are completely fertile.

The male-sterile trait was introduced in MS1 by inserting the barnase gene, isolated from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, a common soil bacterium that is frequently used as a source for industrial enzymes. The barnase gene encodes for a ribonuclease enzyme (RNAse) that is expressed only in the tapetum cells of the pollen sac during anther development. The RNAse affects RNA production, disrupting normal cell functioning and arresting early anther development, thus leading to male sterility.

The transgenic line RF1 was produced by genetically engineering plants to restore fertility in the hybrid line. Transgenic RF1 plants contain the barstar gene, also 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) specifically inhibits barnase RNAse expressed by the MS1 line. 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 the male sterile line MS1, the resultant progeny express the RNAse inhibitor in the tapetum cells of the anthers, allowing hybrid plants to develop normal anthers and restoring fertility.

Both transgenic lines MS1 and RF1 were 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 these canola lines 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.