Genomic dissection of floral transition in Brassica napus towards crop improvement by life cycle adaptation and hybrid yield increase

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Rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) suffers from low genetic variation due to the short history of this species. Breeders try to broaden the genetic basis by gene introgression from non-adapted material from other geographic regions of the world. However, use of these materials is hampered, among others, by non-adapted flowering time (FTi). Here an integrated project is proposed to get a deeper understanding of FTi by global expression analysis and cloning of major FTi regulators. Candidate genes will be mapped by recombination mapping and, in collaboration with other groups, by association mapping. As a proof of concept study, relevant sequences will be mapped to recombinant lines carrying exotic rapeseed introgressions. The 2nd part of the project will study the relevance of 4 FTi genes for heterosis. Assuming that sequence variation within these genes will have an impact on seed yield and biomass heterosis, mutants will be identified by TILLING. The mutants will be analyzed and crosses will be made to determine heterosis of F1 hybrids in the 2nd funding period.