Fine mapping of a minor QTL on chromosome 2 controlling flowering time in Brassica napus L

Abstract Background Chlorophyll is the most important factor enabling plants to absorb, transfer and transform light energy and plays an important role in yield formation. Brassica napus is one of the most important oil crops. Breeding Brassica napus for high light efficiency by improving photosynthetic efficiency has considerable social and economic value. In Brassica napus, there have been studies of the initial location of chlorophyll in seed embryos and pericarps, but there are few reports on the fine mapping of chlorophyll QTLs. We constructed near-isogenic lines (NIL), fine-mapped a chlorophyll locus, and evaluated the effect of this dominant locus on agronomic traits. Results The cqSPDA2 locus was mapped to an interval of 21.87–22.91 Mb on the chromosome A02 of Brassica napus using doubled haploid (DH) lines. To fine-map cqSPDA2, we built NIL and designed Indel primers covering the mapping interval. The 469 individuals in the BC3F2 population were analyzed using these indel primers. Among these indel primers, 15 could narrow the mapping interval to 188 kb between Indel3 and Indel15. Next, 16 indel primers and 19 SSR primers were designed within the new narrower mapping interval, and 5 of the primer-amplified fragments were found to be polymorphic and tightly linked to the cqSPDA2 locus in the BC4F2 population. The mapping interval was narrowed to 152 kb on A02 between SSR2 and Indel15. By gene expression analysis, we found three annotated genes in the mapping interval, including BnaA02g30260D, BnaA02g30290D and BnaA02g30310D, which may be responsible for chlorophyll synthesis. Conclusions The locus cqSPDA2, a dominant QTL for chlorophyll content in Brassica napus, was fine-mapped to a 21.89–22.04 Mb interval on A02. Three annotated genes (BnaA02g30260D, BnaA02g30290D and BnaA02g30310D) that may be responsible for chlorophyll synthesis were found.

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Yield improvement of oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) in a low rainfall environment. II. Agronomic performance of lines selected on the basis of pre-anthesis development

Australian Journal of Agricultural Research ◽

10.1071/ar9920623 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 43 (3) ◽

pp. 623

Author(s):

N Thurling ◽

R Kaveeta

Keyword(s):

Brassica Napus ◽

Flowering Time ◽

Seed Yield ◽

Dry Matter ◽

Stem Elongation ◽

Dry Weight ◽

Early Flowering ◽

Rapid Decline ◽

Recurrent Parent ◽

Brassica Napus L

Agronomic characteristics of two groups of early flowering Brassica napus lines and their respective parents were compared at East Beverley in the Western Australian wheatbelt. These lines had been derived through two generations of backcrossing and subsequent selfing from crosses of the B. napus cultivar Wesbrook (recurrent parent) with an early flowering B. napus line RU2 and an even earlier flowering B. campestris population Chinoli C42. Lines selected for this experiment had flowered earliest in a previous controlled environment experiment. Only RU2 and one WesbrookxRU2 line (IB72) had significantly higher yields than Wesbrook (149% and 166% respectively), and one Wesbrookxchinoli C42 line was the only line to have a significantly lower yield than Wesbrook. None of the lines had significantly higher yields than their respective non-recurrent parents. Although RU2 and IB72 flowered much earlier than Wesbrook, there was no significant relationship between flowering time and seed yield over all lines. Lines which were the earliest to commence stem elongation tended to have higher seed yields. However, of all the growth and development characters measured, the biological yield and the dry weight increment between commencement of flowering and maturity were most closely related to seed yield. RU2 and IB72 accumulated far more dry matter over the post-anthesis period than Wesbrook and all other lines except another WesbrookxRU2 line. The superior post-anthesis growth of RU2 and IB72 may simply be a manifestation of the longer period available for growth under more favourable environmental conditions or deeper roots extracting more water from a greater depth. However, since there was no relationship between flowering time and the post-anthesis dry matter increment, it seems more likely that IB72 has received genes for superior post-anthesis growth as well as those determining early flowering from RU2. Given the rapid decline in soil moisture availability during post-anthesis development in this environment, these genes may affect post-anthesis growth through determining a greater capacity for drought avoidance. The implications of these results are discussed with particular reference to the breeding of higher yielding B. napus cultivars for lower rainfall environments.

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