Genome-wide unbalanced expression bias and expression level dominance toward Brassica oleracea in artificially synthesized intergeneric hybrids of Raphanobrassica

Raphanobrassica(R^(r)R^(r)C^(r)C^(r),2n=4x=36),which is generated by distant hybridization between the maternal parent Raphanus sativus(R s R s,2n=2x=18)and the paternal parent Brassica oleracea(C°C°,2n=2x=18),displays intermediate silique phenotypes compared to diploid progenitors.However,the hybrid shares much more similarities in silique phenotypes with those of B.oleracea than those of R.sativus.Strikingly,the silique of Raphanobrassica is obviously split into two parts.To investigate the gene expression patterns behind these phenomena,transcriptome analysis was performed on the upper,middle,and lower sections of pods(RCsiu,RCsim,and RCsil),seeds in the upper and lower sections of siliques(RCseu and RCsel)from Raphanobrassica,whole pods(Rsi and Csi)and all seeds in the siliques(Rse and Cse)from R.sativus and B.oleracea.Transcriptome shock was observed in all five aforementioned tissues of Raphanobrassica.Genome-wide unbalanced biased expression and expression level dominance were also discovered,and both of them were toward B.oleracea in Raphanobrassica,which is consistent with the observed phenotypes.The present results reveal the global gene expression patterns of different sections of siliques of Raphanobrassica,pods,and seeds of B.oleracea and R.sativus,unraveling the tight correlation between global gene expression patterns and phenotypes of the hybrid and its parents.

CRISPR-based genome editing technology and its applications in oil crops

Oil crops,mainly comprised of soybean,rapeseed,groundnut,sunflower and etc.,have provided substantial edible oil and other tremendous nutrients for human beings,as well as valuable biofuels for associated industries.The genetic improvement of significant oil crops and/or domesticating novel high-yielding oil crops are in urgent need to cope with the ever-increasing demand for various oil crop products.CRISPR(Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats)-based genome editing technology,born a few years ago,edits stretches of DNA in a targeted and RNA-dependent fashion.The Characteristics of targeted mutagenesis and easy manipulation owned by the technology make it have been applied to many plants and exhibited great potential in the genetic improvement of many important oil crops.In the face of growing need for oil crop products and the rapid developments in CRISPR-based genome editing technology,a critical review regarding the technology and its application in oil crops is badly required to provide references for the better use of this technology to modify the oil crops for higher yield.In this review paper,we briefly described the CRISPR-based genome editing technology and summarized its applications and future prospects in oil crops.

Refinement of four major QTL for oil content in Brassica napus by integration of genome resequencing and transcriptomics

Rapeseed(Brassica napus)supplies about half of the vegetable oil in China.Increasing oil production and searching for genes that control oil content in the crop are research goals.In our previous studies,four major QTL for oil content located on A08,A09,C03 and C06 in the Ken C-8×N53-2(KN DH)mapping population were detected.The parental lines were resequenced to identify structural variations and candidate genes affecting oil content in these four major QTL regions.Insertion-deletion(In Del)markers were developed and used to narrow the regions.Differentially expressed genes located in the regions were investigated.GO and KEGG analysis showed that several genes were associated with lipid metabolism.Several transcription factors with higher expression in N53-2 than in Ken C-8 were identified.These results shed light on the genetic control of oil content and may be helpful for the development of highoil-content cultivars.