J. Meng

Quantitative trait loci for root morphology in response to low phosphorus stress in Brassica napus

Phosphorus (P) deficiency in soils is a major limiting factor for crop growth worldwide. Changes in root morphology and architecture represent as an important mechanism of adaptation of plants to low P (LP) stress. To elucidate the genetic control of tolerance to P deficiency in Brassica napus, quantitative trait loci (QTL) for root morphology in response to LP were identified in three independent paper culture experiments, and dissected through QTL meta-analysis. In total, 62 significant QTL for total root length, root surface area, root volume, total dry weight, and plant P uptake under high and low P conditions were detected in the three experiments. Forty-five of these QTL were clustered within four linkage groups and were integrated into eight unique QTL by two rounds of QTL meta-analysis. Three of the unique QTL, uq.A1, uq.C3a and uq.C3b, were specific for LP condition. uq.C3a and uq.C3b were identified specifically for root traits and P uptake under LP stress, and may contribute to the adaptability of B. napus to P deficiency. Two functional markers, BnIPS2-C3 and BnGPT1-C3, which were developed from the genes AtIPS2 and AtGPT1 in Arabidopsis, were located in the confidence intervals of uq.C3a and uq.C3b, respectively. And AtGPT1 that corresponded to the interval of uq.C3b by in silico mapping was a possible candidate gene of uq.C3b. These results confirmed the importance of root traits for the adaptability of B. napus to LP and partially revealed the genetic basis of tolerance to P deficiency. These findings should be valuable for further study of the mechanism of P efficiency and the breeding of P-efficient cultivars by marker-assisted selection.

Genetic effects on biomass yield in interspecific hybrids between Brassica napus and B. rapa

AbstractThis study was conducted to estimate the genetic effects on biomass yield in the interspecific hybrids between Brassica napus and B. rapa, and to evaluate the relationship between parental genetic diversity and its effect on biomass yield of interspecific hybrids. Six cultivars and lines of oilseed B. napus and 20 cultivars of oilseed B. rapa from different regions of the world were chosen to produce interspecific hybrids using NC design II. Obvious genetic differences between B. rapa and B. napus were detected by RFLP. In addition, Chinese B. rapa and European B. rapa were shown genetically differences. Plant biomass yield from these interspecific hybrids were measured at the end of flowering period. Significant differences were detected among general combining ability (GCA) effects over two years and specific combining ability (SCA) effects differences were detected in 2000. The ratios of mean squares, (σ2GCA(f) + σ2GCA(m)) / (σ2GCA(f) + σ2GCA(m) + σ2SCA), were 89% and 88% in 1999 and 2000, respectively. This indicates that both additive effects and non-additive effects contributed to the biomass yield of interspecific hybrids and the former played more important role. Some European B. rapa had significant negative GCA effects while many of Chinese B. rapa had significant positive GCA effects, indicating that Chinese B. rapa may be a valuable source for transferring favorable genes of biomass yield to B. napus. Significant positive correlation between parental genetic distance and biomass yield of interspecific hybrids implies that larger genetic distance results in higher biomass yield for the interspecific hybrids. A way to utilize interspecific heterosis for seed yield was discussed.

Association of RFLP markers and biomass heterosis in trigenomic hybrids of oilseed rape (Brassica napus × B. campestris)

Abstract.Laboratory screening with DNA-based markers and field measurements of biomass production were carried out on each of the 120 trigenomic hybrids, obtained by interspecific hybridization between Brassica napus (AACC) and Brassica campestris (A′A′). The objective of this study was to elucidate the relationship between molecular markers and biomass heterosis of the interspecific hybrid between B. napus and B. campestris, which has been explored practically in rapeseed production for many years. The experiment was first carried out on 65 trigenomic hybrids in 1999. The average over-mid-parent heterosis of biomass production was around 30%, and the highest value was 175.4%. In the following year, the observation was expanded to 120 trigenomic hybrids and the best average over-mid-parent heterosis was 93%. A total of 1,477 DNA fragments, generated by Southern hybridization with 50 Brassica cDNA clones and 25 Arabidopsis EST clones, was scored across their parental lines. One hundred and twenty six and 215 fragments were identified as significantly associated with biomass production respectively in the 2 successive years. Using these active markers, a statistical model to resolve the heterosis is proposed and a new way to make use of the subgenomic heterosis is also discussed.

Allelic diversity in a novel gene pool of canola-quality Brassica napus enriched with alleles from B. rapa and B. carinata

Brassica napus is an amphidiploid with genome AACC and is relatively deficient in genetic diversity. The abundant genetic diversity in other A- and C-genome Brassica species is a valuable resource to expand the narrow gene pool of B. napus. Recently the Ar genomic components from Chinese B. rapa (ArAr) and Cc genomic components from Ethiopian mustard B. carinata (BBCcCc) were introgressed into B. napus through interspecific hybridisation, and the Ar/Cc components were enriched through two generations of molecular marker-assisted selection. In this study, the simple sequence repeat (SSR) allelic diversity of 29 of these new-type B. napus lines, 12 from the first generation and 17 from the second generation, was compared with 66 international B. napus varieties from Australia, China and other countries. Hierarchical clustering and two-dimensional multidimensional scaling revealed that second generation lines and a few first generation lines, all selected for high Ar/Cc components, formed a unique population that was distantly separated from international B. napus. This novel gene pool had significantly higher richness of private SSR alleles and more alleles per SSR marker than the international B. napus varieties. The new-type B. napus lines showed variation in agronomic traits beyond the canola-quality B. napus parent. Many of the lines had low erucic acid and low glucosinolates in the seed (canola quality), indicating that they could be utilised immediately in canola breeding programs.