Identifying and exploiting genetic variation controlling seed yield and quality in oilseed crops
Plant Breeding and Plant Pathology
Final Report Abstract
This project joined together the activities of three laboratories in the EU with a common interest in seed development. The three partner laboratories brought together a multidisciplinary set of expertise and academic backgrounds that aimed to develop new knowledge of seed development using developmental, biochemical and evolutionary approaches. If possible, new knowledge would be communicated to breeders for crop plant improvement. The partners met three times during the course of the project to exchange ideas and materials, and to revise and renew scientific objectives. At the first meeting in Versailles, partners discussed in detail how they could work together in productive ways, and from this, joint objectives were established. At the second meeting in Potsdam, partners reviewed progress and adjusted objectives. At this meeting, the final set of concrete joint experiments were established. At the final meeting in Norwich, we reviewed progress towards joint publications and future work. Our approach has combined developmental biology and metabolic analyses within an evolutional framework to discover and understand seed development in members of the Brassica family, which includes the key reference species Arabidopsis, closely related species with distinctive development, and globally important oilseed crops such as oilseed rape/canola. The biological scope of the work covered the earliest stage seed formation (ovule formation) to the final stages of storage product accumulation. The common approach has been to harness the powers of comparative genomics and natural variation to identify genes controlling seed formation. By linking work in Brassica species to Arabidopsis, we have been able to make exceptional progress in identifying genes and developmental processes that influence seed size and composition. For example, genetic analyses of variation in ovule numbers, seed numbers per pod and seed sizes have been completed. Among the genes identified, one formed a bridge to ongoing work by another partner. This enabled a collaboration in which material was exchanged, and specialised metabolic assays to be carried out. This work has given rise to a longer-term collaboration, and a joint publication is being written. Links with industry have been formed to exploit intellectual property developed in the programme that has been shown to increase Brassica seed yields in the field.
Publications
- (2016). Deciphering and modifying LAFL transcriptional regulatory network in seed for improving yield and quality of storage compounds. Plant Science, 250, 198-204
Fatihi A., Boulard C., Bouyer D., Baud S., Dubreucq B., Lepiniec L.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plantsci.2016.06.013) - (2016). Deciphering the molecular mechanisms underpinning the transcriptional control of gene expression by master transcriptional regulators in Arabidopsis seed. Plant Physiology, 171 (2), 1099-1112
Blanchet, S., To, A., Payre, M., Berger, N., Cuzzi, D., Franco-Zorrilla, J. M., Godoy, M., Solano, R., Thévenon, E., Parcy, F., Lepiniec, L., Dubreucq, B.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1104/pp.16.00034) - (2017). Regulation and evolution of the interaction of the seed B3 transcription factors with NF-Y subunits. BBA - Gene Regulatory Mechanisms
Boulard C., A. Fatihi, L. Lepiniec, B. Dubreucq
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbagrm.2017.08.008)
