Abstract
Cytoplasmic genomes in most angiosperms are known to be maternally inherited. Oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) as a natural amphidiploid species hence may carry the B. oleracea L. or the B. rapa L. cytoplasm, depending on the cross direction. The presence of either the B. oleracea or the B. rapa cytoplasm in oilseed rape has been reported to affect agronomically important traits. However, to date little is known about the cytoplasmic composition and genetic diversity of current winter oilseed rape cultivars and breeding material. The aim of this study was to assess the usefulness of 40 previously published chloroplast cpSSR markers from Brassica species and Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. for distinguishing the cytoplasms of 49 different genotypes of B. napus and its diploid ancestor species. Results showed that only 14 out of the 40 tested primer combinations were suitable to distinguish the cytoplasms of a test set of 8 Brassica genotypes. With the 14 primer pairs 64 different cpSSR alleles were identified in the set of 49 genotypes. Cluster analysis indicated distinct groups for the cytoplasms of B. napus, B. rapa, and B. oleracea. However, an unambiguous identification and classification of the cytoplasm types was not possible in all cases with the available polymorphic set of cpSSR primer pairs.
Highlights
Oilseed rape (Brassica napus L., AACC-genome, 2n = 38) is an amphidiploid crop species, spontaneously arisen from a cross between Brassica rapa L. and Brassica oleracea L
During the past 60 years, oilseed rape has been resynthesized via interspecific crossing of various B. oleracea and B. rapa forms followed by embryo rescue and in vitro plant regeneration, so that depending on the cross direction different cytoplasms are available (Chen and Heneen 1989)
Despite of the obvious importance of chloroplast genes for many metabolic pathways (Wicke et al 2011), to date little is known about the cytoplasmic composition of current oilseed rape cultivars and breeding material
Summary
Oilseed rape (Brassica napus L., AACC-genome, 2n = 38) is an amphidiploid crop species, spontaneously arisen from a cross between Brassica rapa L. As cytoplasmic genomes—plastome and mitochondrial genome—are maternally inherited (Bock 2007), oilseed rape may carry either the cytoplasm of its diploid ancestors B. oleracea or B. rapa, depending on the direction of the hybridization event. During the past 60 years, oilseed rape has been resynthesized via interspecific crossing of various B. oleracea and B. rapa forms followed by embryo rescue and in vitro plant regeneration, so that depending on the cross direction different cytoplasms are available (Chen and Heneen 1989). Despite of the obvious importance of chloroplast genes for many metabolic pathways (Wicke et al 2011), to date little is known about the cytoplasmic composition of current oilseed rape cultivars and breeding material
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