Photoperiod/temperature-sensitive genic male ster-ility (P/TGMS) is widely applied for improving crop production. Previous investigations using the rever-sible male sterile (rvms) mutant showed that slow development is a general mechanism for restoring fertility to P/TGMS lines in Arabidopsis. In this work, we isolated a restorer of rvms–2 (res3), as the male sterility of rvms–2 was rescued by res3. Phenotype analysis and molecular cloning show that a point mutation in UPEX1 l in res3 leads to delayed secretion of callase A6 from the tapetum to the locule and tetrad callose wall degradation. Electro-phoretic mobility shift assay and chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis demonstrated that the tapetal transcription factor ABORTED MICRO-SPORES directly regulates UPEX1 expression, revealing a pathway for tapetum secretory function. Early degradation of the callose wall in the trans-genic line eliminated the fertility restoration effect of res3. The fertility of multiple known P/TGMS lines with pollen wall defects was also restored by res3. We propose that the remnant callose wall may broadly compensate for the pollen wall defects of P/TGMS lines by providing protection for pollen formation. A cellular mechanism is proposed to explain how slow development restores the fertility of P/TGMS lines in Arabidopsis.