Young-Seok Jang

Review of property and utilization of oil crop for biodiesel

Abstract The demand for fuel and energy resources continues to grow due to increased consumption and emerg-ing economies in all parts of the world. With this increase in demand, crude oil prices in the international market has jumped dramatically. Global warming, which is a conse-quence of increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, has become scientific, social, and political concerns. To cope with global warming and energy crisis, cost-competitive biofuels are urgently needed. In addition, development of an infrastructure, which supplies energy stably and diversifies energy resources, as well as new cost-saving technologies should be developed to reduce the costs of producing biofuels. Due to high oleic acid content, rapeseed ( Brassica napus L.) is currently the potential feedstock for biodiesel production in temperate zone region and the production and use of rapeseed oil is already commercialized in Europe. In Korea double-cropping (rice and rapeseed) became more prevalent because it reduces competitions from land constraints. Pro-duction of rapeseed as a biodiesel feedstock may reduce the influence of rising oil prices and nation’s dependence on imported petroleum and increase job opportunities and farm incomes.

Development of herbicide-tolerant Korean rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) cultivars

An interest in the production of seed-oil based fuel and raw materials, which comes from renewable plant sources, has been intrigued by the phenomenon of global warming and shortage of fossil fuels. Rapeseed (Brassica napus) is the most important oilseed crop, which produces seeds with 40% oil. It is desirable to develop genetically modified rapeseed producing oils, which can be easily converted to biodiesel. As an initial step for development of genetically modified rapeseed for the production of biofuels or bio-based materials, Korean rapeseed cultivars, Naehan, Youngsan, Tammi and Halla, were analyzed. Four Korean rapeseed cultivars produce 32 to 40% oil of seed dry weight, which is rich in oleic acid (more than 60 mole%). The cotyledonary petioles of rapeseed cultivar, Halla, were transformed using Agro- bacterium tumefaciens strain GV3101, carrying the uidA gene encoding β-glucuronidase (GUS) as a reporter gene and the phosphinothricin acetyltransferase (PAT) gene as a selectable marker. The stable integration of PAT gene in the genome of transgenic rapeseeds was confirmed by PCR analysis. Expression of uidA gene in various rapeseed organs was determined by fluorometric assay and histo- chemical staining. Transformation efficiency of a Korean rapeseed Halla cultivar was 10.4%. Genetic inheritance of transgenes was confirmed in T2 generation.

Bioenergy Crop Production and Research Trends

The increasing industrialization of the world has led to precipitous rise for the demand of petroleum-based fuels. The world is presently confronted with the twin crises of fossil fuel depletion and environmental pollution. The search for alternative fuels, which promise a harmonious correlation with sustainable development, energy conservation, efficiency and environmental preservation, has become highly pronounced in the present. Bioenergy is playing an increasingly important role as an alternative and renewable source of energy. Use of Bioenergy has several potential environmental advantages. The most important perhaps is reduction in life cycle greenhouse gases emissions relatives petroleum fuels, since bioenergy is derived from plants which convert Carbon dioxide () into Carbohydrates in their growth. Bioenergy includes solid biomass, biomas and liquid bio-fuels which are fuels derived from crop plants, and include biomass that`s directly burned. The two most important bio liquid fuels today are bioethanol from fermenting grain, grass, straw or wood, and biodiesel from plant seed oil.

CACTA transposon-derived Ti-SCARs for cultivar fingerprinting in rapeseed

Transposon display (TD) is a technique for analyzing polymorphic insertions and excisions of transposable elements. We used the CACTA transposon to develop cultivar-specific transposon insertion-sequence characterized amplified regions (Ti-SCARs) for rapeseed (Brassica napus). Using 16 combinations of TD primers, we detected 19 cultivar-specific fragments among six rapeseed cultivars. Of the 16 primer pairs, 12 successfully amplified targets in B. napus and six amplified novel, cultivar-specific markers. Cultivar-specific markers can be used for cultivar fingerprinting and marker-assisted selection in the rapeseed breeding program. Moreover, because Ti-SCARs are based on transposon insertions, Ti-SCAR markers may be used in reverse genetic techniques for isolating novel genes in plants.

Relative Oxidative Stability of Diacylglycerol and Triacylglycerol Oils

To compare the oxidative stability between diacylglycerol (DAG) oil and conventional triacylglycerol (TAG) oil (that is, soybean oil), the prepared stripped diacylglycerol oil (SDO) and soybean oil (SSBO) were stored at 60 °C in the dark for 144 h. During storage peroxide values (POVs), contents of aldehydes, unsaturated fatty acids were measured to evaluate the oxidative stabilities of the 2 oils. The results showed the content of C18:2, C18:3, and total unsaturated fatty acid decreased faster in DAG oil than in soybean oil, whereas the decreased rate of C18:1 was similar in 2 oils. Also, both rate constants (K1 and K2) obtained from POV (K1 ) and total aldehydes (K2 ) indicated that DAG oil (K1 = 3.22 mmol/mol FA h(-1) , K2 = 0.023 h(-1)) was oxidized more rapidly than soybean oil (K1 = 2.56 mmol/mol FA h(-1) , K2 = 0.021 h(-1)), which was mainly due to the difference of acylglycerol composition of the 2 oils along with higher C18:3 (9.6%) in SDO than SSBO (5.7%). It is concluded that DAG was more easily oxidized than soybean oil at 60 °C in the dark for 144 h.

Identification and analysis of cold stress-inducible genes in Korean rapeseed varieties

The rapeseed plant (Brassica napus) is one of the top five oil-producing crops in the world. However, its potential for global cultivation is limited due to its sensitivity to cold. We selected five varieties of rapeseed popular in Korea and analyzed their sensitivity to cold stress. Three — ‘Naehan’, ‘Sandongchae’, and ‘Yudal’ — proved more tolerant than the other two — ‘Youngsan’ and ‘Tammi’. Because rapeseed is in the same family (Brassicacae) as Arabidopsis, one would expect that both share similar genes, with protein coding sequences that show >86% homology. We used a cDNA microarray enriched with Arabidopsis cold stress-related genes to examine the molecular background for differences in sensitivity among rapeseed varieties. Their hierarchical clustering patterns for expression were highly correlated with their cold-sensitive phenotypes. For example, expression patterns were similar between ‘Naehan’ and ‘Sandongchae’ as well as between ‘Yudal’ and our Arabidopsis samples. Using co-expression gene sets developed in this laboratory, we further analyzed expression patterns for three cultivars. Three distinct gene sets were commonly enriched in ‘Naehan’ against ‘Youngsan’ and ‘Tammi’, indicating that they could be the core gene sets that confer a high degree of cold tolerance in ‘Naehan’. Knockout plants with down-regulated expression of GSTF2, TRXh5, LTI30, and LACS4 were highly cold-sensitive whereas overexpression of those four genes led to a reversal of this sensitivity. In fact, overexpression of GSTF2 and LTI30 enhanced tolerance, with plants that over-expressed GSTF2 having extremely high tolerance that enabled them to acclimate almost completely to freezing conditions. By comparison, only about 40% of the wild type demonstrated a similar acclimation. Therefore, the genes described here could be useful in furthering our knowledge about other stress responses in rapeseed, thereby facilitating the production of cold-tolerant plants.

Evaluation of maximum potential gene flow from herbicide resistant Brassica napus to its male sterile relatives under open and wind pollination conditions

Pollen-mediated gene flow (PMGF) from genetically modified (GM) Brassica napus to its wild relatives by wind and insects is a major ecological concern in agricultural ecosystems. This study conducted is to estimate maximum potential gene flow and differentiate between wind- and bee-mediated gene flows from herbicide resistant (HR) B. napus to its closely-related male sterile (MS) relatives, B. napus, B. juncea and Raphanus sativus. Various markers, including pods formation in MS plants, herbicide resistance, and SSR markers, were used to identify the hybrids. Our results revealed the following: 1) maximum potential gene flow (a maximum % of the progeny of pollen recipient confirmed hybrid) to MS B. napus ranged from 32.48 to 0.30% and from 14.69 to 0.26% at 2-128 m from HR B. napus under open and wind pollination conditions, respectively, and to MS B. juncea ranged from 21.95 to 0.24% and from 6.16 to 0.16%, respectively; 2) estimates of honeybee-mediated gene flow decreased with increasing distance from HR B. napus and ranged from 17.78 to 0.03% at 2-128 m for MS B. napus and from 15.33 to 0.08% for MS B. juncea; 3) a small-scale donor plots would strongly favour insect over wind pollination; 4) no gene flow occurred from HR B. napus to MS R. sativus. Our approach and findings are helpful in understanding the relative contribution of wind and bees to gene flow and useful for estimating maximum potential gene flow and managing environmental risks associated with gene flow.

Comparison of apparent total tract and ileal digestibility in growing and finishing pigs fed soybean meal, rapeseed meal, and canola meal

ABSTRACT Three growing and three finishing [Duroc × (Yorkshire × Landrace)] barrows (body weight = 22.68 ± 0.18 kg and 49.43 ± 0.78 kg) were used in this 3 × 3 Latin square experimental design to evaluate the comparative effects of soybean meal (SBM), rapeseed meal (RSM), and canola meal (CM) on apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) and apparent ileal digestibility (AID) in growing and finishing pigs. Growing pigs provided with the SBM and CM diets had higher (P < .05) ATTD of N than those pigs fed the RSM diet, and the AID of N of pigs fed the CM diet was higher (P < .05) than those fed the RSM diet. Moreover, the AID of lysine, threonine, and valine in the SBM and CM treatments was higher (P < .05) than that in the RSM treatment. In finishing pigs, the ATTD and AID of dry matter were increased (P < .05) in SBM compared with RSM, and pigs fed the SBM and CM diets had higher (P < .05) AID of N than pigs fed the RSM diet. In addition, pigs fed the SBM and CM diets had higher (P < .05) AID of histidine, methionine, and glutamic acid than those fed the RSM diet.