Genome-wide patterns of heterotic vigour associated with allopolyploid chromosome collision
Final Report Abstract
Rapeseed (Brassica napus), a major oil crop in both China and Germany, is a young allopolyploid plant species with limited genetic diversity. In order to broaden the genetic basis available for breeding, interspecific crosses between related Brassica species are frequently performed to generate synthetic B. napus forms. The genome collision in the first meiosis of synthetic B. napus hybrids results in significant genomic alterations, but remarkable heterosis can be observed in crosses between some synthetic forms and natural B. napus. This German-Chinese cooperation project investigated the hypothesis that dominance effects, driven by beneficial genome alterations (for example gene presence-absence and related structural genome variants) can promote heterotic potential of synthetic B. napus, and that specific genomic patterns of heterotic vigour are associated with allopolyploid chromosome collision. Genomic, epigenetic and regulatory patterns during seed and seedling development were explored in the parents and heterotic F1 offspring from a cross between a natural rapeseed accession and a synthetic B. napus parent with novel genome rearrangements. Subsequently we analysed differential structural genome variation associated with developmental and yield-associated traits in F1 hybrid plants. The results confirmed the dynamic nature of the B. napus genome, particularly in recently synthesised accessions, and confirmed the strong impact of dominant gene expression and cytosine methylation as a product of asymmetrical genome structural rearrangements and as a potential driver of early stage heterosis in this important crop species.
Publications
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Exploring the gene pool ofBrassica napusby genomics‐based approaches. Plant Biotechnology Journal, 19(9), 1693-1712.
Hu, Dandan; Jing, Jinjie; Snowdon, Rod J.; Mason, Annaliese S.; Shen, Jinxiong; Meng, Jinling & Zou, Jun
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Genome structural evolution in Brassica crops. Nature Plants, 7(6), 757-765.
He, Zhesi; Ji, Ruiqin; Havlickova, Lenka; Wang, Lihong; Li, Yi; Lee, Huey Tyng; Song, Jiaming; Koh, Chushin; Yang, Jinghua; Zhang, Mingfang; Parkin, Isobel A. P.; Wang, Xiaowu; Edwards, David; King, Graham J.; Zou, Jun; Liu, Kede; Snowdon, Rod J.; Banga, Surinder S.; Machackova, Ivana & Bancroft, Ian
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Genome-wide prediction for hybrids between parents with distinguished difference on exotic introgressions in Brassica napus. The Crop Journal, 9(5), 1169-1178.
Hu, Dandan; Zhao, Yusheng; Shen, Jinxiong; He, Xiangxiang; Zhang, Yikai; Jiang, Yong; Snowdon, Rod; Meng, Jinling; Reif, Jochen C. & Zou, Jun
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Frequent spontaneous structural rearrangements promote rapid genome diversification in a Brassica napus F1 generation. Frontiers in Plant Science, 13 (2022, 11, 18).
Orantes-Bonilla, Mauricio; Makhoul, Manar; Lee, HueyTyng; Chawla, Harmeet Singh; Vollrath, Paul; Langstroff, Anna; Sedlazeck, Fritz J.; Zou, Jun & Snowdon, Rod J.
