Root morphology and seed and leaf ionomic traits in a Brassica napus L. diversity panel show wide phenotypic variation and are characteristic of crop habit

Abstract

BackgroundMineral nutrient uptake and utilisation by plants are controlled by many traits relating to root morphology, ion transport, sequestration and translocation. The aims of this study were to determine the phenotypic diversity in root morphology and leaf and seed mineral composition of a polyploid crop species, Brassica napus L., and how these traits relate to crop habit. Traits were quantified in a diversity panel of up to 387 genotypes: 163 winter, 127 spring, and seven semiwinter oilseed rape (OSR) habits, 35 swede, 15 winter fodder, and 40 exotic/unspecified habits. Root traits of 14 d old seedlings were measured in a ‘pouch and wick’ system (n = ~24 replicates per genotype). The mineral composition of 3–6 rosette-stage leaves, and mature seeds, was determined on compost-grown plants from a designed experiment (n = 5) by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).ResultsSeed size explained a large proportion of the variation in root length. Winter OSR and fodder habits had longer primary and lateral roots than spring OSR habits, with generally lower mineral concentrations. A comparison of the ratios of elements in leaf and seed parts revealed differences in translocation processes between crop habits, including those likely to be associated with crop-selection for OSR seeds with lower sulphur-containing glucosinolates. Combining root, leaf and seed traits in a discriminant analysis provided the most accurate characterisation of crop habit, illustrating the interdependence of plant tissues.ConclusionsHigh-throughput morphological and composition phenotyping reveals complex interrelationships between mineral acquisition and accumulation linked to genetic control within and between crop types (habits) in B. napus. Despite its recent genetic ancestry (<10 ky), root morphology, and leaf and seed composition traits could potentially be used in crop improvement, if suitable markers can be identified and if these correspond with suitable agronomy and quality traits.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12870-016-0902-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Validation of an updated Associative Transcriptomics platform for the polyploid crop species Brassica napus by dissection of the genetic architecture of erucic acid and tocopherol isoform variation in seeds

“…() plus 21 further accessions used by Thomas et al . (). The list of accessions is shown in Appendix S1.…”

Agronomic biofortification of cowpea with selenium: effects of selenate and selenite applications on selenium and phytate concentrations in seeds

“…Subsamples of 0.20 g dry weight (DW) of leaf or seed material were digested and analyzed by ICP‐MS following Thomas et al . Sample processing was undertaken using Qtegra™ software (Thermo Fisher Scientific).…”

Variation in the angiosperm ionome

“…The ionome of a particular plant, organ, tissue, cell or subcellular structure is affected by the phytoavailability of elements in the environment, transport processes into and within the plant, plant metabolism and the requirements of specific extracellular and intracellular structures (White and Brown , Baxter ). The ionome differs between plant species growing in the same environment (Broadley et al , White et al , Watanabe et al ), organs, tissues and cells of an individual plant (Sorreano , Cakmak et al , Conn and Gilliham , Subramanian et al , Baxter et al , Eggert and von Wirén , Zhao et al , He et al , Persson et al , Thomas et al , Watanabe et al , de la Fuente et al , White and Pongrac ) and extracellular and intracellular compartments (Sterner and Elser , Hawkesford et al , Broadley et al , , White et al ). Ultimately, differences in the ionomes of plants growing under identical conditions reflect differences in their genomes and gene expression that have evolved through mutation and the selection of adapted phenotypes.…”