Plant Genetic Diversity

Background

There is a requirement to ensure that the genetic diversity associated with the Brassica oilseed rape crop are made available in a form usable by the R&D and breeder communities, as well as ensuring that sufficient baseline descriptive information is made available to facilitate their use. OREGIN has assembled key genetic resources to enable researchers and breeders to explore the relevant gene-pool for enhanced traits to incorporate into breeding programmes. This includes establishing Diversity Fixed Foundation Sets for B. napus (BnaDFFS). The anticipated users of the BnaDFFS diversity collection include researchers with expertise in specific traits or trait components in universities, institutes and elsewhere, including those who currently work on genetic variation in the related model species Arabidopsis, as well as breeders who are interested in screening the lines for useful trait variation to incorporate into their own pre-breeding material.

Diversity Foundation Sets

The development of Diversity Fixed Foundation Sets

was initiated for outcrossing Brassica species. Within OREGIN, the set of founder lines within the BnaDFFS were compiled to represent a structured sampling of the genetic diversity across the global B. napus genepool, and encompass winter and spring OSR, swedes and fodder, forage and salad kales. The BnaDFFS will enable the R&D and breeder community to determine if genetic variation exists for specific traits within the B. napus genepool. As well as being screened to assess molecular variation in gene-specific sequences and locus-specific markers, the BnaDFFS will be used to assess trait variation in experimental trials. This resource will be unique within the world and as such OREGIN expects to benefit from added value by exchanging similar materials with other researchers overseas. An inventory of the lines comprising the founder lines and their seed and DNA availability can be found here

(last updated September 2009).

By 2008, 63 lines had been fixed, either sourced as fixed founder lines or fixed as DH lines by microspore culture within the project. Single Seed Descent (SSD) has resulted in an additional 4 lines with seed at S4, 46 lines at S3, 61 lines at S2, and the remaining 14 lines at S1. UK oilseed breeders associated with OREGIN have generously offered to assist with completing the single seed descent, and 94 lines have been distributed to them for this purpose. The remaining 21 lines are being fixed at WHRI.

Assessment Trials of Diversity Sets (2009-11)

Demonstration field trials are planned to be carried out at Rothamsted Research over two seasons on two levels of nitrogen input. As well as providing information from direct measurements on field grown plants, the experimental plots will be sampled and harvested to provide plant tissue, seed and soil that can be archived long-term for off-site analysis (such as isotope discrimination, to inform studies on water use efficiency (WUE)) in other funded projects.