Analysis of Seed-specificity of Silencing fad_2 Gene Expression in Transgenic Rapeseed Line W-4(Brassica napus L.)

This study was to investigate the efficiency and specificity of RNAi silencing on the expression of endogenous fad2 gene in transgenic line W-4. [Method] The relative expression of fad2 gene in seeds at different developmental stages of 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th day after flowering （DAF） as wel as the root, stem, leaf at winter seedling stages of both the transgenic line W-4 and non-transgenic control Westar by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR. [Results] The results showed the relative expression of fad2 gene was gradual y increasing with the days after flowering in the seeds of the control Westar, while it was found decreasing significantly since the 21st DAF in the seeds of the line W-4. The decline was up to 60% in comparison with the control Westar. However, no significant difference in the relative expression of fad2 gene in other organs like root, stem and leaf was observed between transgenic line W-4 and non-transgenic control Westar. Fatty acid composition analysis showed the oleic acid desaturation parameter（ODP） in seeds of the line W-4 was 0.07 in average, decreased by nearly 75% than control Westar which was 0.24 in average, while no significant difference in the seedling root, stem and leaf was measured between transgenic rapeseed and control. [Conclusion] The results above validated that RNA interference in transgenic rapeseed W-4 is at a seed-specific manner, not interfering with fad2 gene expression in organs such as the root, stem and leaf. The study also found that the period of fad2 gene expres-sion decline was wel coincided with the expression of napin gene, both appeared at the 21st DAF, indicating that the expression of dsRNA of fad2 gene is precisely control ed by the napin promoter.

Fatty Acid Composition and Seed Quality Traits of the Transgenic Rapeseed W-4(Brassica napus L.) with Down-regulated Expression of fad2 Gene

To clarify the effect of down-regulated expression of fad2 gene on the seed nutritional quality of rapeseed, the fatty acid composition, amino acid composi- tion, oil content, protein content, crude fiber content and glucosinolate content in the seeds of both transgenic line W-4 and its control Westar were compared. The re- sults showed that the oleic acid content in W-4 was 86.03%±0.20%, which was 29.36% higher than that in the control （P〈0.01）; the linoleic acid content was 2.86%± 0.01%, which was reduced by 84.03% compared with that in the control （P〈0.01）; the linolenic acid content in W-4 was 3.04%±0.04%, reduced by 57.60% （P〈0.01）; the palmitic acid content in W-4 was 3.23%±0.07%, reduced by 18.63% （P〈0.01）; the eicosenoic acid content in W-4 was increased by 18.46% compared with that in the control （P〈0.01）; the erucic acid content in W-4 was increased by 13.15% （P〈 0.05）; there was no significant difference in stearic acid content between the treat- ment and control groups （P〉0.05）. The amino acid composition analysis showed that total 18 amino acids, including 8 essential amino acids, were detected in both W-4 and Westar; there were no significant differences in contents of the 18 amino acids between the treatment and control groups except that of tyrosine （P〉0.05）; the contents of oil, proteins, glucosinolates and crude fiber in W-4 were 45.40%± 0.17% （P〉0.05）, 18.18%±0.91% （P〉0.05）, 18.20%±1.21% （P〉0.05） and 12.29%± 0.04% （P〉0.05）, respectively. All the results above showed that the down-regulated expression of fad2 had great effects on fatty acid composition and accumulation in rapeseed seeds, but had no significant effects on other seed quality traits, such as oil content, protein content, crude fiber content and glucosinolate content.

Characterization of Genomic Integration and Transgene Organization in Six Transgenic Rapeseed Events

To characterize the DNA rearrangement of both the T-DNA region and the genomic insertion site during T-DNA insertion, the Genomewalker strategy was used to isolate the junctions between the inserted DNA and the plant genomic DNA in six rapeseed events as well as the genomic DNA at the sites before integration. During transformation in each of the six events, portions of both the right border（RB） and left border（LB） regions of the T-DNA were deleted, ranging from a 7 nucleotide deletion of the LB repeats in event RF1 to a 207 bp deletion of the LB region in event RF2. For the six events, T-DNA integration resulted in a deletion at the target site spanning less than 100 bp. Sequence analysis indicated that the T-DNA was integrated into the coding region of various native rapeseed genes in events RF1 and RF2. Duplications of the genomic DNA target site were observed in events RF2, RF3 and Topas 19/2. And multimerization of transgenes was found in event Topas 19/2, in which, the T-DNA was integrated as a head-to-head（RB-to-RB） concatemer into the recipient genome. In event MS1, chromosomal translocation or a large target-site deletion may have occurred during T-DNA integration, which was identified due to a failure to amplify the presumptive insertion site based on the flanking rapeseed DNA sequences. Our results provide comprehensive data concerning transgene organization and the genomic context of the T-DNA in six rapeseed events, which can aid in the developing of insert fingerprinting and the monitoring of long-term genetic stability and potential unintended effects of transgenic events.

Analysis of the Flanking Sequence and EventSpecific Detection of Transgenic Line W-4 of Brassica napus

The genetically modified high-oleic rapeseed （Brassica napus L.） line W-4 was obtained by transforming a binary vector which harbored an inverted repeat expression cassette of fad2 gene into the rapeseed cultivar Westar.The transformation was mediated by Agrobacterium.The flanking sequences to both the left and right borders of T-DNA insertion site were amplified by thermal asymmetric interlaced PCR （TAIL-PCR） from the genomic DNA of the transgenic rapeseed line W-4.The flanking sequences to the right border was 290 bp in length and the nucleotide composition was 31.27％ for G＋C content while 68.73％ for A＋T content.The flanking sequence to the left border was 365 bp in length and the G＋C content was 32.6％ and the A＋T content was 67.4％,indicating that the T-DNA was integrated in the A/T-rich region.Further more,sequence alignment analysis showed a deletion of 62 bp including the right border of pCNFIRnos and the integration of the whole left border except a change of G to A.That was to say,the integration of the T-DNA in the transgenic line W-4 not involved in the vector sequences.Based on both flanking sequences as well as the left and right borders of the T-DNA sequences,two pairs of specific primers TLF/TLR and TRF/TRR were designed.Using the primers the event-specific PCR detection method for transgenic rapeseed line W-4 was established.By the PCR,two fragments of 485 and 405 bp were amplified from the W-4 genomic DNA as expected,while no products were amplified from the genomic DNA of other transgenic rapeseed lines and non-transgenic rapeseed line.And by the PCR it is possible to detect the W-4 genomic DNA from a mixed sample of genomic DNA.The limit of the detection for the qualitative PCR assay was 0.1％.The method developed in this work is highly specific,sensitive and suitable for event-specific detection of the transgenic rapeseed line W-4.

Rapeseed Breeding for Quality Character in Hunan Province

Eight single-low or double-low rapeseed cultivars were bred from 1980 to 2000 in Hunan Province. In this paper, characters and breeding method of these cultivars are introduced.