Abstract
BackgroundLead (Pb) pollution in soil has become one of the major environmental threats to plant growth and human health. Safe utilization of Pb contaminated soil by phytoremediation require Pb-tolerant rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) accessions. However, breeding of new B. napus cultivars tolerance to Pb stress has been restricted by limited knowledge on molecular mechanisms involved in Pb tolerance. This work was carried out to identify genetic loci related to Pb tolerance during seedling establishment in rapeseed.ResultsPb tolerance, which was assessed by quantifying radicle length (RL) under 0 or 100 mg/L Pb stress condition, shown an extensive variation in 472 worldwide-collected rapeseed accessions. Based on the criterion of relative RL > 80%, six Pb-tolerant genotypes were selected. Four quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with Pb tolerance were identified by Genome-wide association study. The expression level of nine promising candidate genes, including GSTUs, BCATs, UBP13, TBR and HIPP01, located in these four QTL regions, were significantly higher or induced by Pb in Pb-tolerant accessions in comparison to Pb-sensitive accessions.ConclusionTo our knowledge, this is the first study on Pb-tolerant germplasms and genomic loci in B. napus. The findings can provide valuable genetic resources for the breeding of Pb-tolerant B. napus cultivars and understanding of Pb tolerance mechanism in Brassica species.
Highlights
Lead (Pb) pollution in soil has become one of the major environmental threats to plant growth and human health
Screening elite B. napus germplasms tolerance to Pb stress To investigate the tolerance to Pb stress of different B. napus genotypes, the radicle lengths (RL) of 472 accessions grown under 0 or 100 mg/L Pb stress condition for seven days were compared
We found that the relative radicle length (RRL) was ranged from 12.94 to 98.88, 12.17 to 99.84, 20.34 to 98.42 in three replications, respectively (Fig. 1b, Additional file 5: Table S1)
Summary
Lead (Pb) pollution in soil has become one of the major environmental threats to plant growth and human health. Pb in soil, is transferred to plant tissues, can influence various morphological, physiological and biochemical processes in plant, can threats to human health through food chains [3,4,5]. Several alleviating techniques such as phytoremediation (including Phytostabilization and Phytoextraction) have been applied for safe utilization of Pb. Rapeseed (Brassica napus L.), an ideal plant for phytoremediation, is an important source of edible vegetable oil, vegetable, animal fodder, green manure and biodiesel [11]. At the vegetative and adult stage, Pb toxicity in rapeseed was evident from elevated levels of oxidative stress and subcellular damage that significantly inhibited plant growth, leaf chlorophyll
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
