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Advances in Genetics and Breeding of Rapeseed (Brassica napus L.)

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A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Genetics, Genomics and Biotechnology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 March 2023) | Viewed by 17667

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Hanzhong Wang

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Guest Editor

Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China
Interests: oil crops; rapeseed (Brassica napus L.); germplasm; plant breeding; genome-wide analysis; plant biotechnology

Dr. Wei Hua

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Guest Editor

Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Oil Crops, Oil Crops Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Ministry of Agriculture, Wuhan 430062, China
Interests: rapeseed (Brassica napus L.); functional genomics; plant physiology; plant genetics; plant metabolism

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) is the world’s third-largest oil crop. Both the oil content and quality of rapeseed have been markedly improved in recent decades, particularly since the release of its reference genome. To maximize the values of rapeseed, a multi-purpose development strategy centered around genetic improvement and breeding, integrating the utilization of oil, flower, vegetable, honey, feed and fertilizer, is becoming increasingly acceptable and extremely important.

Therefore, this Special Issue aims to synthesize the latest research progress on rapeseed genetics and breeding related to the aforementioned topics covering the identification and characterization of genes/QTLs and novel/superior alleles by functional genomics, genetics, resequencing and breeding, in order to augment rapeseed oil content, oil quality, yield potential, nutritional values and biotic/abiotic stress resilience. Original research papers, reviews, resources, technologies and perspectives are welcome.

Prof. Dr. Hanzhong Wang
Dr. Wei Hua
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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Keywords

Brassica napus L.
functional genomics
genetics
breeding
physiology
biotechnology

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Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 3481 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Phosphate Transporter BnaPT37 Regulates Phosphate Homeostasis in Brassica napus by Changing Its Translocation and Distribution In Vivo

by Yu Li, Xue Wang, Hao Zhang, Xiangsheng Ye, Lei Shi, Fangsen Xu and Guangda Ding

Plants 2023, 12(19), 3362; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12193362 - 22 Sep 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1304

Abstract

Inorganic phosphate (Pi) is actively taken up by Pi transporters (PTs) from the soil and transported into the plant. Here, we functionally characterized the Brassica napus gene BnaPT37, which belongs to the PHT1 family. BnaPT37 is a plasma membrane-localized protein containing 534 amino acids. Expression of BnaPT37 increased significantly under Pi deficiency in various tissues, especially in fully expanded leaves. Expression of the β-glucuronidase reporter gene driven by the BnaPT37 promoter showed that BnaPT37 is expressed in the root, stem, calyx, and leaf under Pi deficiency. BnaPT37 can complement a yeast mutant strain defective in five Pi transporters and can restore the growth of the Arabidopsis atpt1/2 double mutant under Pi deprivation. Overexpression of BnaPT37 in rapeseed significantly increased Pi translocation from root to shoot. Moreover, the movement of Pi from fully expanded leaves to new leaves and roots was enhanced in the transgenic lines compared to the wild type. However, the overexpression of BnaPT37 inhibited the flowering time, plant height, and Pi accumulation in seeds. In conclusion, BnaPT37 functions as a plasma membrane-localized Pi transporter and might be involved in Pi translocation from root to shoot and Pi distribution from source to sink in B. napus. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Genetics and Breeding of Rapeseed (Brassica napus L.))

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20 pages, 2408 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Aphids on Aphid-Susceptible Cultivars Have Easy Access to Turnip Mosaic Virus, and Effective Inoculation on Aphid-Resistant Cultivars of Oilseed Rape (Brassica napus)

by Zhong-Ping Hao, Zeng-Bei Feng, Lei Sheng, Wei-Xin Fei and Shu-Min Hou

Plants 2023, 12(10), 1972; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12101972 - 13 May 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1696

Abstract

Plant viruses improve transmission efficiency by directly and indirectly influencing vector behavior, but the impact of plant cultivars on these modifications is rarely studied. Using electropenetrography (EPG) technology, a comparative study of the effects of turnip mosaic virus (TuMV) infection on quantitative probing behaviors of the cabbage aphid (Brevicoryne brassicae) was conducted on two oilseed rape cultivars (‘Deleyou6’ and ‘Zhongshuang11’). Compared to mock-inoculated plants, cabbage aphids on infected plants increased the frequency of brief probing, cell penetration, and salivation. Additionally, aphids on infected ‘Deleyou6’ prolonged cell penetration time and decreased ingestion, but not on infected ‘Zhongshuang11’, suggesting that aphids were more likely to acquire and vector TuMV on the aphid-susceptible cultivar ‘Deleyou6’ than on resistant cultivars. TuMV also affected aphid probing behavior directly. Viruliferous aphids reduced the pathway duration, secreted more saliva, and ingested less sap than non-viruliferous aphids. In comparison with non-viruliferous aphids, viruliferous aphids started the first probe earlier and increased brief probing and cell penetration frequencies on the aphid-resistant cultivar ‘Zhongshuang11’. Based on these observations, viruliferous aphids can be inoculated with TuMV more efficiently on ‘Zhongshuang11’ than on ‘Deleyou6’. Although aphid resistance and TuMV infection may influence aphid probing behavior, oilseed rape resistance to aphids does not impede TuMV transmission effectively. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Genetics and Breeding of Rapeseed (Brassica napus L.))

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18 pages, 2975 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Introgression of Heterotic Genomic Segments from Brassica carinata into Brassica juncea for Enhancing Productivity

by Prashant Vasisth, Naveen Singh, Omkar Maharudra Limbalkar, Mohit Sharma, Gokulan Dhanasekaran, Mohan Lal Meena, Priyanka Jain, Sarika Jaiswal, Mir Asif Iquebal, Anshul Watts, Kiran B. Gaikwad and Rajendra Singh

Plants 2023, 12(8), 1677; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12081677 - 17 Apr 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2140

Abstract

Interspecific hybridization resulted in the creation of B. juncea introgression lines (ILs) generated from B. carinata with increased productivity and adaptability. Forty ILs were crossed with their respective B. juncea recipient parents to generate introgression line hybrids (ILHs) and the common tester (SEJ 8) was used to generate test hybrids (THs). Mid-parent heterosis in ILHs and standard heterosis in THs were calculated for eight yield and yield-related traits. Heterotic genomic regions were dissected using ten ILs with significant mid-parent heterosis in ILHs and standard heterosis in THs for seed yield. A high level of heterosis for seed yield was contributed by 1000 seed weight (13.48%) in D31_ILHs and by total siliquae/plant (14.01%) and siliqua length (10.56%) in PM30_ILHs. The heterotic ILs of DRMRIJ 31 and Pusa Mustard 30 were examined using polymorphic SNPs between the parents, and a total of 254 and 335 introgressed heterotic segments were identified, respectively. This investigation discovered potential genes, viz., PUB10, glutathione S transferase, TT4, SGT, FLA3, AP2/ERF, SANT4, MYB, and UDP-glucosyl transferase 73B3 that were previously reported to regulate yield-related traits. The heterozygosity of the FLA3 gene significantly improved siliqua length and seeds per siliqua in ILHs of Pusa Mustard 30. This research proved that interspecific hybridization is an effective means of increasing the diversity of cultivated species by introducing new genetic variants and improving the level of heterosis. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Genetics and Breeding of Rapeseed (Brassica napus L.))

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13 pages, 3585 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Transcriptome and Regional Association Analyses Reveal the Effects of Oleosin Genes on the Accumulation of Oil Content in Brassica napus

by Yuan Jia, Min Yao, Xin He, Xinghua Xiong, Mei Guan, Zhongsong Liu, Chunyun Guan and Lunwen Qian

Plants 2022, 11(22), 3140; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11223140 - 16 Nov 2022

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2428

Abstract

Rapeseed stores lipids in the form of oil bodies. Oil bodies in the seeds of higher plants are surrounded by oleosins. Adjusting oleosin protein levels can prevent the fusion of oil bodies and maintain oil body size during seed development. However, oil contents are affected by many factors, and studies on the complex molecular regulatory mechanisms underlying the variations in seed oil contents of B. napus are limited. In this study, a total of 53 BnOLEO (B. napus oleosin) genes were identified in the genome of B. napus through a genome-wide analysis. The promoter sequences of oleosin genes consisted of various light-, hormone-, and stress-related cis-acting elements, along with transcription factor (TF) binding sites, for 25 TF families in 53 BnOLEO genes. The differentially expressed oleosin genes between two high- and two low-oil-content accessions were explored. BnOLEO3-C09, BnOLEO4-A02, BnOLEO4-A09, BnOLEO2-C04, BnOLEO1-C01, and BnOLEO7-A03 showed higher expressions in the high-oil-content accessions than in low-oil-content accessions, at 25, 35, and 45 days after pollination (DAP) in two different environments. A regional association analysis of 50 re-sequenced rapeseed accessions was used to further analyze these six BnOLEO genes, and it revealed that the nucleotide variations in the BnOLEO1-C01 and BnOLEO7-A03 gene regions were related to the phenotypic variations in seed oil content. Moreover, a co-expression network analysis revealed that the BnOLEO genes were directly linked to lipid/fatty acid metabolism, TF, lipid transport, and carbohydrate genes, thus forming a molecular network involved in seed oil accumulation. These favorable haplotypes can be utilized in molecular marker-assisted selection in order to further improve seed oil contents in rapeseed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Genetics and Breeding of Rapeseed (Brassica napus L.))

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15 pages, 2620 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mapping of Two Major QTLs Controlling Flowering Time in Brassica napus Using a High-Density Genetic Map

by Lei Chen, Weixia Lei, Wangfei He, Yifan Wang, Jie Tian, Jihui Gong, Bing Hao, Xinxin Cheng, Yingjie Shu and Zhixiong Fan

Plants 2022, 11(19), 2635; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11192635 - 7 Oct 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2384

Abstract

Research on the flowering habit of rapeseed is important for the selection of varieties adapted to specific ecological environments. Here, quantitative trait loci (QTL) for the days-to-flowering trait were identified using a doubled haploid population of 178 lines derived from a cross between the winter type SGDH284 and the semi-winter type 158A. A linkage map encompassing 3268.01 cM was constructed using 2777 bin markers obtained from next-generation sequencing. The preliminary mapping results revealed 56 QTLs for the days to flowering in the six replicates in the three environments. Twelve consensus QTLs were identified by a QTL meta-analysis, two of which (cqDTF-C02 and cqDTF-C06) were designated as major QTLs. Based on the micro-collinearity of the target regions between B. napus and Arabidopsis, four genes possibly related to flowering time were identified in the cqDTF-C02 interval, and only one gene possibly related to flowering time was identified in the cqDTF-C06 interval. A tightly linked insertion–deletion marker for the cqFT-C02 locus was developed. These findings will aid the breeding of early maturing B. napus varieties. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Genetics and Breeding of Rapeseed (Brassica napus L.))

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15 pages, 3625 KiB

Open AccessArticle

BnGF14-2c Positively Regulates Flowering via the Vernalization Pathway in Semi-Winter Rapeseed

by Shihang Fan, Hongfang Liu, Jing Liu, Wei Hua and Jun Li

Plants 2022, 11(17), 2312; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11172312 - 3 Sep 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2628

Abstract

14-3-3s are general regulatory factors (GF14s or GRFs) involved in a variety of physiological regulations in plants, including the control of flowering time. However, there are poorly relevant reports in rapeseed so far. In this study, we identified a homologous 14-3-3 gene BnGF14-2c (AtGRF2_Like in Brassica napus) in rapeseed based on bioinformatic analysis by using the sequences of the flowering-related 14-3-3s in other plant species. Then, we found that overexpression of BnGF14-2c in the semi-winter rapeseed “93275” promoted flowering without vernalization. Moreover, both yeast two-hybrid and bimolecular fluorescence complementation analysis indicated that BnGF14-2c may interact with two vernalization-related flowering regulators BnFT.A02 and BnFLC.A10., respectively. qPCR analysis showed that the expression of BnFT (AtFT_Like) was increased and the expression of two selected vernalization-related genes were reduced in the overexpression transgenic plants. Further investigation on subcellular localization demonstrated that BnGF14-2c localized in the nucleus and cytoplasm. The results of RNA-seq analysis and GUS staining indicated that BnGF14-2c is ubiquitously expressed except for mature seed coat. In general, the interaction of 14-3-3 and FLC was firstly documented in this study, indicating BnGF14-2c may act as a positive regulator of flowering in rapeseed, which is worthy for more in-depth exploration. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Genetics and Breeding of Rapeseed (Brassica napus L.))

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17 pages, 1441 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Genome-Wide Association Studies of Root-Related Traits in Brassica napus L. under Low-Potassium Conditions

by Sani Ibrahim, Nazir Ahmad, Lieqiong Kuang, Ze Tian, Salisu Bello Sadau, Muhammad Shahid Iqbal, Xinfa Wang, Hanzhong Wang and Xiaoling Dun

Plants 2022, 11(14), 1826; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11141826 - 12 Jul 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2793

Abstract

Roots are essential organs for a plant’s ability to absorb water and obtain mineral nutrients, hence they are critical to its development. Plants use root architectural alterations to improve their chances of absorbing nutrients when their supply is low. Nine root traits of a Brassica napus association panel were explored in hydroponic-system studies under low potassium (K) stress to unravel the genetic basis of root growth in rapeseed. The quantitative trait loci (QTL) and candidate genes for root development were discovered using a multilocus genome-wide association study (ML-GWAS). For the nine traits, a total of 453 significant associated single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci were discovered, which were then integrated into 206 QTL clusters. There were 45 pleiotropic clusters, and qRTA04-4 and qRTC04-7 were linked to TRL, TSA, and TRV at the same time, contributing 5.25–11.48% of the phenotypic variance explained (PVE) to the root traits. Additionally, 1360 annotated genes were discovered by examining genomic regions within 100 kb upstream and downstream of lead SNPs within the 45 loci. Thirty-five genes were identified as possibly regulating root-system development. As per protein–protein interaction analyses, homologs of three genes (BnaC08g29120D, BnaA07g10150D, and BnaC04g45700D) have been shown to influence root growth in earlier investigations. The QTL clusters and candidate genes identified in this work will help us better understand the genetics of root growth traits and could be employed in marker-assisted breeding for rapeseed adaptable to various conditions with low K levels. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Genetics and Breeding of Rapeseed (Brassica napus L.))

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