Pod shatter‐resistant Brassica fruit produced by ectopic expression of the FRUITFULL gene

Abstract

SummaryArabidopsis has proven to be extremely useful as a reference organism for studies in plant biology, and huge efforts have been employed to unravel various mechanisms of Arabidopsis growth. A major challenge now is to demonstrate that this wealth of knowledge can be used for global agricultural and environmental improvement. Brassica species are closely related to Arabidopsis and represent ideal candidates for model-to-crop approaches as they include important crop plants, such as canola. Brassica plants normally disperse their seeds by a pod-shattering mechanism. Although this mechanism is an advantage in nature, unsynchronized pod shatter constitutes one of the biggest problems for canola farmers. Here, we show that ectopic expression of the Arabidopsis FRUITFULL gene in Brassica juncea is sufficient to produce pod shatter-resistant Brassica fruit and that the genetic pathway leading to valve margin specification is conserved between Arabidopsis and Brassica . These studies demonstrate a genetic strategy for the control of seed dispersal that should be generally applicable to diverse Brassica crop species to reduce seed loss.

Molecular basis of a shattering resistance boosting global dissemination of soybean

“…To date, however, no agronomic achievement has been reported based on the use of the Arabidopsis shattering-resistance genes identified for fruit patterning. For instance, the introduction of the FRUITFULL gain-of-function gene, which dominantly suppresses the formation of abscission layers, to Brassica juncea made pods resistant to threshing (50). Although fine-tuning the INDEHISCENT gene expression has been proposed for crop improvement (51), the use of the orthologous gene for pdh1, or other genes regulating the dehiscing force, may provide promising alternatives because pdh1 has long proven its usefulness in agriculture.…”

Pod Shattering: A Homologous Series of Variation Underlying Domestication and an Avenue for Crop Improvement

“…For these The effects of agricultural practices on crop yield due to pod shattering are extensively studied in Brassica [123]. In canola, up to 50% yield loss was reported due to shattering [124], and the degree of yield loss depends on harvesting method and time. The selection of harvest method is based on crop type and environmental factors.…”

“…In Brassica, efforts to improve shattering resistance include interfering with the dehiscence process via manipulating its molecular and hormonal control pathways [150,151], and generating transgenic lines with pod-shattering resistance [81,82]. For instance, the Arabidopsis gene FUL was successfully transferred to a Brassica crop species, and the ectopic expression of this gene was sufficient to control pod shattering in the Brassica crop [124]. This technique can be applied to other shattering-prone crops.…”

Breeding Brassica napus for Shatter Resistance

“…Ostergaard et al (2006) showed that ectopic expression of the Arabidopsis FRUITFULL gene in B. juncea is sufficient to produce shatter-resistant Brassica fruit and that the genetic pathway leading to valve margin specification is conserved between Arabidopsis and Brassica. Studies have shown that transgenic fruit produced this way were completely shatter-resistant and were too tough for a combine harvester to thrash (Ferrandiz et al, 2000;Vancanneyt et al, 2003;Ostergaard et al, 2006). This is possibly because of the loss of the basic siliqua structure with valves and sutures that facilitates siliqua rupture.…”