Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20:5n-3) plays an important role in many aspects of human health. In our efforts towards producing high levels of EPA in plants, we investigated the effects of different host species, genes and promoters on EPA biosynthesis. Zero-erucic acid Brassica carinata appeared to be an outstanding host species for EPA production, with EPA levels in transgenic seed of this line reaching up to 25%. Two novel genes, an 18-carbon omega3 desaturase (CpDesX) from Claviceps purpurea and a 20-carbon omega3 desaturase (Pir-omega3) from Pythium irregulare, proved to be very effective in increasing EPA levels in high-erucic acid B. carinata. The conlinin1 promoter from flax functioned reasonably well in B. carinata, and can serve as an alternative to the napin promoter from B. napus. In summary, the judicious selection of host species and promoters, together with the inclusion of genes that enhance the basic very long chain polyunsaturated fatty acid biosynthetic pathway, can greatly influence the production of EPA in plants.

A Brassica campestris-alboglabra monosomic addition line (genome: AA + one chromosome from the C genome, 2n = 21) harbours the Brassica alboglabra (CC, 2n = 18) chromosome with the gene for erucic acid. In order to identify this chromosome, we have studied the mitotic prometaphase chromosomes of Brassica campestris (AA, 2n = 20), B. alboglabra, and the monosomic addition line. More pronounced differential staining and size differences of chromosomes were observed in B. campestris than in B. alboglabra. The karyotype of B. campestris was composed of four median (m), four submedian (sm), and two subterminal (st) chromosome pairs, while that of B. alboglabra was composed of three m, four sm, and two st chromosome pairs, provided that the length of the satellite was excluded when determining the arm ratio of the nucleolar chromosome. The alien chromosome from the C genome in the addition line was easily identified in the background B. campestris genome by its large size, its submedian centromere, and its differential staining pattern. When compared with the karyotype of B. alboglabra, the alien chromosome from the C genome in the monosomic addition line was revealed to be chromosome 4.

Recent advances in next generation sequencing technologies make genotyping by sequencing (GBS) more feasible for molecular characterization of plant germplasm with complex and unsequenced genomes. We used a GBS protocol consisting of Roche 454 pyrosequencing, genomic reduction and advanced bioinformatics tools to analyze genetic diversity of 24 diverse yellow mustard accessions. One and one half 454 pyrosequencing runs generated roughly 1.2 million sequence reads totaling about 392 million nucleotides. Application of the computational pipeline DIAL identified 512 contigs and 828 SNPs. The BLAST algorithm revealed alignments of 214 contigs with the sequences reported in NCBI nr/nt database. Sanger sequencing confirmed 95 % of 41 selected contigs and 94 % of 240 putative SNPs. The 454 scored SNPs were highly imbalanced among assayed samples. Diversity analysis of these SNPs revealed that 26.1 % of the total variation resided among landrace, cultivar and breeding lines and 24.7 % between yellow-and black-seeded germplasm. Cluster analysis showed that the black-seeded accessions were largely clustered together and the breeding lines were grouped with known origin. Computer simulation was performed to assess the impact of 454 SNPs missing and revealed considerable changes in allelic count, bias in detection of genetic structure, and large deviations from the expected genetic-distance matrix. These findings are useful for parental selection consideration in yellow mustard breeding, and our detailed analyses help illustrate the utility of GBS in genetic-diversity analysis of plant germplasm, particularly for genetic-relationship assessment.

Naturally occurring heritable variation provides a fundamental resource to reveal the genetic and molecular bases of traits in forward genetic studies. Here, we report the molecular basis of the differences in the four alleles E 1 , E 2 , E 3 , and e of the FATTY ACID ELONGATION1 (FAE1) gene controlling high, medium, low, and zero erucic content in yellow mustard (Sinapis alba). E 1 represents a fully functional allele with a coding DNA sequence (CDS) of 1521 bp and a promoter adjacent to the CDS. The null allele e resulted from an insertional disruption in the CDS by Sal-PIF, a 3100-bp PIF/Harbinger-like DNA transposon, whereas E 2 and E 3 originated from the insertion of Sal-T1, a 4863-bp Copia-like retrotransposon, in the 59 untranslated region. E 3 was identical to E 2 but showed cytosine methylation in the promoter region and was thus an epiallele having a further reduction in expression. The coding regions of E 2 and E 3 also contained five single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) not present in E 1 , but expression studies in Saccharomyces cerevisiae indicated that these SNPs did not affect enzyme functionality. These results demonstrate a comprehensive molecular framework for the interplay of transposon insertion, SNP/indel mutation, and epigenetic modification influencing the broad range of natural genetic variation in plants.

Twenty-two intergeneric hybrids from a cross between Brassica napus (AACC, 2n = 38) cultivar Oro and the ornamental crucifer Orychophragmus violaceus (OO, 2n = 24) were produced without embryo rescue. The plants were classified into three groups based on morphological and cytological observations and RAPD banding patterns. Plants of Group I had morphological traits of both parents and 2n = 29 chromosomes. In these plants, 62.1% of the pollen mother cells (PMCs) had the pairing configuration 1 III + 9 II + 8 I; the remaining PMCs had 10 II + 9 I. The plants possessed 97.6-98.8% B. napus specific and 9.2-11.7% O. violaceus specific RAPD fragments. Plants of Group II exhibited novel morphological traits and possessed 2n = 35, 36, or 37 chromosomes. Plants of Group III were morphologically similar to B. napus and possessed 2n = 19, 37, 38, or 39 chromosomes. Plants of Group II and Group III had 94.1-99.4% B. napus specific RAPD fragments and no O. violaceus specific RAPD fragments. Chromosome fragments were observed in PMCs of most of the F1 plants in all groups. Based on the cytological results and RAPD analysis, it is suggested that genome doubling and chromosome elimination occurred in the intergeneric hybrids of B. napus x O. violaceus.