Abstract
BackgroundCamelina sativa (gold-of-pleasure) is a traditional European oilseed crop and emerging biofuel source with high levels of desirable fatty acids. A twentieth century germplasm bottleneck depleted genetic diversity in the crop, leading to recent interest in using wild relatives for crop improvement. However, little is known about seed oil content and genetic diversity in wild Camelina species.ResultsWe used gas chromatography, environmental niche assessment, and genotyping-by-sequencing to assess seed fatty acid composition, environmental distributions, and population structure in C. sativa and four congeners, with a primary focus on the crop’s wild progenitor, C. microcarpa. Fatty acid composition differed significantly between Camelina species, which occur in largely non-overlapping environments. The crop progenitor comprises three genetic subpopulations with discrete fatty acid compositions. Environment, subpopulation, and population-by-environment interactions were all important predictors for seed oil in these wild populations. A complementary growth chamber experiment using C. sativa confirmed that growing conditions can dramatically affect both oil quantity and fatty acid composition in Camelina.ConclusionsGenetics, environmental conditions, and genotype-by-environment interactions all contribute to fatty acid variation in Camelina species. These insights suggest careful breeding may overcome the unfavorable FA compositions in oilseed crops that are predicted with warming climates.
Highlights
Camelina sativa is a traditional European oilseed crop and emerging biofuel source with high levels of desirable fatty acids
Seed oil composition differs among wild Camelina species Total oil content varied widely among Camelina seed samples (19.01–41.91%) as inferred by Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME) analysis
Average seed oil content was highest in the domesticated species, C. sativa (37.41% ± 3.69) and lowest in C. laxa (31.63% ± 3.64); after correcting for multiple comparisons the only significant differences were between C. sativa and C. microcarpa (LMM, p = 0.007) and between C. sativa and C. hispida (LMM, p = 0.042) (Table 1)
Summary
Camelina sativa (gold-of-pleasure) is a traditional European oilseed crop and emerging biofuel source with high levels of desirable fatty acids. Little is known about seed oil content and genetic diversity in wild Camelina species. Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz is a historically important oilseed crop of Europe that has recently gained attention as a potential biofuel source [1,2,3,4] and plant factory for high-value molecules [5,6,7,8,9]. Camelina microcarpa has been estimated to harbor roughly twice the genetic diversity of C. sativa [17], which further suggests that this wild species could be valuable for breeding programs. In addition to C. microcarpa, other close relatives of C. sativa include the tetraploid species C. rumelica Velen., and the diploid species, C. hispida, C. laxa C. Several additional species-rank entities were recognized in the past, often based on minor morphological differences (see historical overviews in: [21, 22]; see [17], and references therein), and some authors continue to recognize numerous narrowly-defined species (e.g., [23])
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