Project description:Compared to ordinary rapeseed, high-oleic acid rapeseed has higher levels of monounsaturated fatty acids and lower levels of saturated fatty acid and polyunsaturated fatty acids, and thus is of high nutritional and health value. In addition, high-oleic acid rapeseed oil imparts cardiovascular protective effects. Based on these properties, high-oleic acid oil crops have been extensively investigated and cultivated. In this study, we employed a microarray analysis with high oleic acid line and low oleic acid line from the developing seeds (27 days after flowering) of Brassica napus.
Project description:MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of non-coding small RNAs (sRNAs) that play crucial regulatory roles in various developmental processes. Silique length indirectly influences seed yield in rapeseed (Brassica napus); however, the molecular roles of miRNAs in silique length are largely unknown. Here, backcross progenies of rapeseed with long siliques (LS) and short siliques (SS) were used to elucidate this role. Four small RNA libraries from early developing siliques were sequenced, and a total of 814 non-redundant miRNA precursors were identified, representing 65 known miRNAs, and 394 novel miRNAs. Expression analyses revealed 12 known miRNAs and 5 novel miRNAs that were differentially expressed in LS and SS lines. Furthermore, though two degradome sequencing, we annotated 522 cleavage events. An analysis of correlated expression between differentially expressed miRNAs and their targets demonstrated that some transcription factors might repress cell proliferation or auxin signal transduction to control silique length, and that a Pi/Cu deficiency might also restrict silique development. More significantly, the overexpression of miR160 in rapeseed may repress auxin response factors and result in increased silique length, illustrating that silique length could be regulated via an auxin-response pathway. These results will serve as a foundation for future research in B. napus.
Project description:Background: MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a class of non-coding small RNAs, are crucial to the regulation of various developmental processes. Plant architecture is a collection of genetically controlled agronomic traits that determine crop production and mechanized harvesting. Although several genes had been found to regulate plant architecture, the mechanisms whereby miRNAs regulate plant architecture in the rapeseed Brassica napus remain unknown. Results: In this study, we characterized a rod-like rapeseed mutant with an ideal plant architecture that substantially enhanced its breeding potential. To explore miRNAs that contribute to the rapeseed plant architecture, backcross progenies that developed into small plants (rod-like) and tall plants (normal) were used for study. Four small RNA (sRNA) libraries and two degradome libraries from the shoot apex of normal and rod-like plants were sequenced. A total of 925 non-redundant B. napus miRNA precursors were identified, representing 315 precursors for 74 known miRNAs and 610 precursors for 327 novel miRNAs. Expression analysis revealed that 10 known miRNAs and 7 novel miRNAs were differentially expressed between the normal and rod-like plants. In addition, 408 targets were identified through degradome sequencing and 14 targets were further validated via RNA ligase-mediated 5′ rapid amplification of cDNA ends. Furthermore, the functions of miR319 and its target gene TCP4 were studied and provided a novel insight into how miR319 regulates plant architecture. Conclusions: Correlation analysis between differentially expressed miRNAs and their targets demonstrated that nutrition and metal deprivation, energy supply deficiency, senescence and TEOSINTE BRANCHED1/CYCLOIDEA/PCF (TCPs) contributed to the premature termination of shoot development in rod-like mutant. The work further elucidates the mechanism of miRNAs participate in the regulation of plant architecture.
Project description:C3-C4 intermediate Moricandia suffruticosa showed tolerance to drought and heat stresses, and high photosynthetic capacity under these abiotic stresses as comparing with C3 relative crop rapeseed (Brassica napus). In our study, systematic analysis was conducted to reveal photosynthetic difference between C3-C4 Moricandia suffruticosa and its relative C3 rapeseed from the same Brassiceae tribe. It was found that Moricandia leaf photosynthesis and anatomy were significantly changed compared to rapeseed under drought and heat stress conditions. De novo transcriptome of Moricandia was assembled by next generation sequencing, and unigenes were mapped to respective rapeseed gene locus. Then comparative transcriptome analysis was conducted in leaf tissues of Moricandia and rapeseed under both drought and heat stresses. Main pathways and candidate genes were revealed from this analysis, which may be associated with the stress induced change in Moricandia.
Project description:To reveal the possible molecular mechanism underpinning the male sterility induced by a sulfonyflurea herbicide amidosulfuron, a comparative transcriptome analysis between rapeseed under amidosulfuron folia spray and the contrast was conducted by using Illumina digital gene expression tag profiling technology (DGE). A total of 54 up-regulated and 119 down-regulated DETs (differentially expressed transcripts) were annotated by 357 GOs and 32 KEGG pathways, indicating that the reaction to amidosulfuron exposure is complicated in rapeseed. Some interesting GOs included (1) amino acid metabolite, (2) energy metabolite, (3) carbohydrate, lipid, protein metabolite, (4) cell division, growth and death, (5) stimulus and defense response, (6) chlorophyll and mitochondria, (7) hormone, (8) oxidoreductase, and (9) flavonoid biosynthesis. Expression of most genes in cell division, growth and death category, and flavonoid biosynthesis were down-regulated. Ethylene mediated signaling pathway was up-regulated, while auxin mediated signaling pathway was down-regulated. Stimulus and defense response were induced.
Project description:A critical barrier for improving crops yield is the compensatory effect between seed weight (SW) and seed number (SN), which has been widely reported in several crops including Brassica napus. Despite the agronomic relevance of this issue, the molecular factors involved in the interaction between SW and SN are largely unknown in crops. In this work, we performed a detailed transcriptomic analysis of 48 seed samples obtained from two rapeseed spring genotypes subjected to different source-sink (S-S) ratios in order to modify the relationship between SW and SN under field conditions.
Project description:Waterlogging is one major stress for crops and causes multiple problems for plants, for example low gas diffusion, reducing conditions in the soil and accumulation of toxic metabolites. Brassica napus is an important oil crop with high waterlogging sensitivity, which may cause severe yield losses. Its reactions to the stress are not fully understood. In this work the transcriptional response of rapeseed to one aspect of waterlogging, hypoxia in the root zone, was analyzed, including two rapeseed cultivars from different origin, Avatar from Europe and Zhongshuang 9 from Asia. Both cultivars showed a high number of differentially expressed genes in roots after 4 and 24 h of hypoxia. The response included many well-known hypoxia-induced genes such as genes coding for glycolytic and fermentative enzymes. Leaves hardly responded to the root stress after a 24-h-stress treatment, and photosynthesis seemed to be not affected by the stress applied to roots. There was no clear difference in either gene expression or tolerance to waterlogging between the two genotypes used in this study.
Project description:Powdery mildew caused by Erysiphe cruciferarum, is an epidemic of oil rapeseed (Brassica napus) growing worldwide, but resistant germplasm is rare in this species. We obtained the hybrid seeds of distant hybridization between powdery-mildew-immune Brassica carinata cultivar ‘White flower’ and susceptible B. napus cultivar ‘Zhongshuang11’. Five lines in the BC1F3 generation (F3 after backcross to 'Zhongshuang11') were identified to be resistant or moderately resistant. In order to identify the important biological responses to powdery mildew, the foliar transcriptomes of the resistant and susceptible plants in these progenies after powdery mildew inoculation were compared by using Illumina RNA-seq. We identified 10,454 differential expression genes (DEGs) and 1050 genes out of them are related to disease resistance. There were 271 DEGs in Group Resistance expressed at least two fold higher than in group S, while 779 DGEs expressed two fold lower. The genes highly expressed in Group Resistance are those encoding the proteins: (1) related to wax, chloroplast and cell wall metabolism, such as KCS6, CSP41B, RWA, callose synthetase 3, pectinase 9, fructosidase 2, 9s-lipoxygenase LOX2, etc.; (2) kinases including RKL, ERECTA, BAK1, BAM2, LysM receptor like kinase, and lipid transfer protein kinase ERl1 and ERl2; (3) broad spectrum powdery mildew resistance proteins RPW8, calmodulin MLO2, PMR5, MLP328, EDR2, RPS4 and RPS6, etc. In group susceptible, pectinesterase, cytochrome CYP81f2, LOX1, cysteine rich receptor protein kinases and serine / threonine protein kinases such as MEKK, RLK6, CRK45, APK1, BRl3, WAK1, WAK10, etc., and TIR-NB-LRR receptor like proteins R1M1, DSC1, DSC2 and pathogenesis-related protein PR-1 etc. were the most activated genes. The results provide the preliminarily knowledge about molecular mechanism in rapeseed defense response to powdery mildew.