Special Issue "Advances in Brassica Crops Genomics and Breeding"

A special issue of Horticulturae (ISSN 2311-7524). This special issue belongs to the section "Genetics, Genomics, Breeding, and Biotechnology (G2B2)".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Xiaowu Wang
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Horticultural Crops of the Ministry of Agriculture, Institute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Interests: genomics; genetics; breeding; brassica
Prof. Dr. Jian Wu
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Interests: flowering time regulation in crucifer crops; genomics; genetics; moleuclar markers; epigenetics; miRNA
Dr. Xu Cai
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Interests: pan-genome; genomics; genetics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Brassica crops include vegetable, oil, ornamental and condimental crops. Many of these, such as Chinese cabbage, cabbage and rapeseed, are cultivated worldwide as important crops. Brassica species are unique not only because of their economic importance, but also because of the domestication of extreme morphological types, such as leafy heading, root/stem enlarging and florescence heading in these species. Moreover, Brassica species represent several important polyploidization events, including paleo-, meso- and present polyploidization, which make them ideal as model species for the investigation of polyploidization.

With the fast progress we are making in sequencing technologies, a number of genomes of Brassica crops species have been sequenced and high-quality chromosome scale assemblies were obtained. Moreover, the large-scale resequencing data of germplasm resources have been made available in B. rapa, B. oleracea, and B. napus, which allows GWAS and domestication analysis in these important crops. These breakthroughs accelerated the investigation into the genomics of the complex Brassica genomes, the evolution of different Brassica species, functional revealing of important genes, and the molecular marker-assisted breeding of Brassica crops. The purpose of this Special Issue is to present the recent advances in genomics and breeding in Brassica crops.

Prof. Dr. Xiaowu Wang
Prof. Dr. Jian Wu
Dr. Xu Cai
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • brassica
  • marker-assisted breeding
  • gene mapping
  • QTL
  • SNP
  • GWAS
  • genomics
  • genome structure variation
  • transcriptomics
  • metabolomics

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

Article
Selection on BrFLC1 Is Related to Intraspecific Diversity of Brassica rapa Vegetables
Horticulturae 2021, 7(8), 247; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae7080247 - 14 Aug 2021
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Abstract
Flowering time is important for Brassica rapa vegetables because premature bolting before harvest can lower yield and quality. FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) acts as a key repressor of flowering. In this study, we identified a nonsynonymous mutation at the 58th nucleotide [...] Read more.
Flowering time is important for Brassica rapa vegetables because premature bolting before harvest can lower yield and quality. FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) acts as a key repressor of flowering. In this study, we identified a nonsynonymous mutation at the 58th nucleotide of exon1 in BrFLC1 (named as Pe1+58 (A/C)) by screening resequencing data of 199 B. rapa accessions and verified this mutation as being related to flowering time variation. Strong linkage inheritance was detected between this locus and a previously reported splicing site mutation at intron 6 of BrFLC1 (Pi6+1 (G/A)), showing as co-occurrence of BrFLC1Pe1+58(A) and BrFLC1Pi6+1(G), named as haplotype H1: AG, or co-occurrence of BrFLC1Pe1+58(C) and BrFLC1Pi6+1(A), named as haplotype H2: CA. The frequency distribution of BrFLC1 haplotypes skewed to the haplotype H1 in turnip, broccoletto, mizuna, komatsuna, and taicai, while it was skewed to the haplotype H2 in caixin, pak choi, zicaitai, and wutacai. The frequencies of the two haplotypes were comparable in Chinese cabbage. This indicated that BrFLC1 haplotypes were related to B. rapa intraspecific diversification. Further analysis of a Chinese cabbage collection revealed that accessions from the spring ecotype preferred to keep H1: AG and almost all accessions from the summer ecotype were H2: CA. The early flowering haplotype of BrFLC1 was purified in summer Chinese cabbage, indicating that BrFLC1 had been strongly selected during genetic improvement of summer Chinese cabbages. A significant difference in flowering time of F2 individuals with the homologous BrFLC1Pi6+1(G) allele but different BrFLC1Pe1+58 (A/C) alleles, indicated that this locus had independent genetic effects on flowering time. The newly identified allelic diversity of BrFLC1 can be used for breeding of resistance to premature bolting in B. rapa vegetables. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Brassica Crops Genomics and Breeding)
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Article
Transcriptome Profiling Reveals Candidate Key Genes Involved in Sinigrin Biosynthesis in Brassica nigra
Horticulturae 2021, 7(7), 173; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae7070173 - 02 Jul 2021
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Abstract
Glucosinolates (GSLs) are important secondary metabolites in Brassicales related to insect and disease resistance, flavor formation, and human health. Here, we determined the GSL profile with sinigrin as the predominant GSL in Brassica nigra. A total of 184 GSL biosynthetic genes ( [...] Read more.
Glucosinolates (GSLs) are important secondary metabolites in Brassicales related to insect and disease resistance, flavor formation, and human health. Here, we determined the GSL profile with sinigrin as the predominant GSL in Brassica nigra. A total of 184 GSL biosynthetic genes (BniGSLs) were identified in B. nigra by a genome-wide search for orthologs of 82 of the 95 known GSL genes in Arabidopsis thaliana. Transcriptome data demonstrated that at least one BniGSL was highly expressed in stems and leaves at each step of the sinigrin synthesis pathway, which ensured the synthesis of a large amount of sinigrin in B. nigra. Among these key candidates of BniGSLs, the high expression of BniMAM1-2, BniCYP79F1, and BniAOP2-1/2, and the absence of MAM3 and AOP3, may contribute remarkably to the synthesis and accumulation of sinigrin. In addition, the low expression of some key BniGSLs partially explains the low content of indolic and aromatic GSLs in B. nigra. This study provided a genetic explanation for the formation of the unique GSL profile with sinigrin as the main GSL in B. nigra. The results of this study will be valuable for further functional analysis of BniGSLs and genetic improvement of GSLs in B. nigra and other Brassica species. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Brassica Crops Genomics and Breeding)
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Article
Comparative Transcriptome Identifies Gene Expression Networks Regulating Developmental Pollen Abortion in Ogura Cytoplasmic Male Sterility in Chinese Cabbage (Brassica rapa ssp. pekinensis)
Horticulturae 2021, 7(6), 157; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae7060157 - 20 Jun 2021
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Abstract
Ogura cytoplasmic male sterility (Ogura CMS), originally identified in wild radish (Raphanus sativus), has enabled complete pollen sterility in Brassica plants, but the underlying mechanism in Ogura CMS Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa ssp. pekinensis) remains unclear. In this study [...] Read more.
Ogura cytoplasmic male sterility (Ogura CMS), originally identified in wild radish (Raphanus sativus), has enabled complete pollen sterility in Brassica plants, but the underlying mechanism in Ogura CMS Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa ssp. pekinensis) remains unclear. In this study cytological analysis showed that during microsporogenesis the meiosis occurred normally, and the uninucleated pollens subsequently formed, but the development of both binucleated and trinucleated pollens was obviously disrupted due to defects of pollen mitosis in the Ogura CMS line (Tyms) compared with the corresponding maintainer line (231–330). In transcriptome profiling a total of 8052 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified, among which 3890 were up-regulated and 4162 were down-regulated at the pollen abortion stages in an Ogura CMS line. KOG cluster analysis demonstrated that a large number of DEGs were related to the cytoskeleton’s dynamics, which may account for the failure of pollen mitosis during development in the Ogura CMS line. The pivotal genes related to the phenylpropane synthesis pathway (PAL, 4CL and CAD) were significantly down-regulated, which probably affected the formation and disposition of anther lignin and sporopollenin, and eventually led to abnormality in the pollen exine structure. In addition, several key up-regulated genes (GPX7, G6PD and PGD1) related to the glutathione oxidation-reduction (REDOX) reaction indicated that the accumulation of peroxides in Ogura CMS lines during this period affected the pollen development. Taken together, this cytological and molecular evidence is expected to advance our understanding of pollen abortion induced by Ogura cytoplasmic action in Chinese cabbage. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Brassica Crops Genomics and Breeding)
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