Abstract
Summary Thlapsi arvense L. (pennycress) is being developed as a profitable oilseed cover crop for the winter fallow period throughout the temperate regions of the world, controlling soil erosion and nutrients run‐off on otherwise barren farmland. We demonstrate that pennycress can serve as a user‐friendly model system akin to Arabidopsis that is well‐suited for both laboratory and field experimentation. We sequenced the diploid genome of the spring‐type Spring 32‐10 inbred line (1C DNA content of 539 Mb; 2n = 14), identifying variation that may explain phenotypic differences with winter‐type pennycress, as well as predominantly a one‐to‐one correspondence with Arabidopsis genes, which makes translational research straightforward. We developed an Agrobacterium‐mediated floral dip transformation method (0.5% transformation efficiency) and introduced CRISPR‐Cas9 constructs to produce indel mutations in the putative FATTY ACID ELONGATION1 (FAE1) gene, thereby abolishing erucic acid production and creating an edible seed oil comparable to that of canola. We also stably transformed pennycress with the Euonymus alatus diacylglycerol acetyltransferase (EaDAcT) gene, producing low‐viscosity acetyl‐triacylglycerol‐containing seed oil suitable as a diesel‐engine drop‐in fuel. Adoption of pennycress as a model system will accelerate oilseed‐crop translational research and facilitate pennycress’ rapid domestication to meet the growing sustainable food and fuel demands.
Highlights
Pennycress (Thlapsi arvense L., Field Pennycress) is an oilseedproducing plant of the Brassicaceae family, closely related to the model Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) and many agronomically important members including the oilseeds rapeseed (Brassica rapa and Brassica napus varieties), canola, carinata (Brassica carinata), camelina (Camelina sativa) and lepidium (Lepidium campestre) (Franzke et al, 2011; Warwick et al, 2010)
In the late 2000s, we initiated breeding programmes aimed at domesticating pennycress as a winter annual oilseed cover crop
While genotypic/phenotypic variation exists allowing success in breeding efforts for some traits including yield, many traits did not exhibit enough variation to allow for the attainment of domestication targets strictly through breeding
Summary
Pennycress (Thlapsi arvense L., Field Pennycress) is an oilseedproducing plant of the Brassicaceae family, closely related to the model Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) and many agronomically important members including the oilseeds rapeseed (Brassica rapa and Brassica napus varieties), canola (rapeseed variants producing edible oil), carinata (Brassica carinata), camelina (Camelina sativa) and lepidium (Lepidium campestre) (Franzke et al, 2011; Warwick et al, 2010). Wild pennycress stands can grow to a density equivalent to the production of 2000 lbs of seed per acre (2200 kg/hectare) (Mitich, 1996), which equates to ~85 gallons of oil and ~1300 pounds of press cake meal per acre (790 litres/hectare and 1460 kg/hectare respectively). Both the oil and meal have potential economic value, which will help promote the adoption of pennycress as a new eco-friendly cash crop that minimally competes for land with existing cash crops
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