Provided here is a new strategy for cell- or tissue-specific centromeric histone 3 (CENH3) down-regulation: dormant N-degrons that lead to protein degradation after activation by a specific tobacco etch virus (TEV) protease. Also provided are methods of targeting a kinetochore protein for degradation and generating haploid (or half ploidy of parent plant) progeny. Also provided is an expression cassette comprising a promoter operably linked to a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide comprising an peptide sequence linked to a protease cleavage site linked to N-degron linked to a kinetochore protein. Also provided are plants comprising the expression cassette.
