Exploring knowledge of gene function to combat pod shatter in oilseed rape

种子作物的成功驯化取决于植物在收获前保持其后代的能力。谷物的种子传播控制问题在几千年前就通过简单的选择性育种得到了解决，但对于油菜来说仍然是一个严重的问题。农民由于果实过早开放而经历的平均年损失，称为豆荚破碎，> 10%。在特别多风的条件下，当潮湿的天气延迟收获或当作物成熟时冰雹袭击田地时，这种损失可能超过70%。随着人口的增长和气候模式的急剧变化，全球粮食生产面临的挑战从未如此之大，为了满足需求，必须改善我们主要作物的表现。然而，如果农民甚至在外出收获之前就损失了相当大一部分作物，那么这种努力的潜在产量收益就不能完全实现。油菜的果实在成熟时会变干，然后打开，让种子在一个被称为豆荚破碎的过程中分散。不幸的是，田地里的所有果实不会同时干燥，这使得油菜农民很难安排收获时间并获得所有种子。除了严重的产量损失外，过早释放的种子落到地面并发芽成为杂草（志愿者）并污染第二年的收成。这严重阻碍了许多农民采用的作物轮作做法，因此也对环境造成损害。拟南芥是一种小型的杂草植物，已被用作实验室模式系统，以阐明与植物生长和发育有关的广泛方面。尽管在大小上存在巨大差异，但拟南芥的果实与油菜的果实非常相似。在过去的十年中，拟南芥果实开放的一些关键遗传调节因子已经被确定，我们已经表明，这些因子也在与油菜密切相关的物种中发挥作用。在拟议的研究项目中，我们将利用我们的知识，直接控制英国高产优质油菜品种的裂荚。具体而言，我们将操纵和调整特定基因的活性，通过分离突变体植物和评估其在豆荚抗破碎试验中的表现。我们将进一步使用突变株系来扩大我们对果实开放机制的了解，使我们能够在未来的品种中微调荚果破碎性状。该项目的特别优势是我们的遗传资源和我们在成功实现目标所需的所有技术方面的专业知识。总之，我们相信，所提出的项目将为农民和消费者以及环境带来实质性的好处。

Successful domestication of seed crops depends on the plant's ability to hold on to its progeny until harvest. The problem of seed dispersal control in cereals was solved thousands of years ago through simple selective breeding, but remains a serious issue for oilseed rape. The average annual loss experienced by farmers due to premature fruit opening, known as pod shatter is >10%. This loss can exceed >70% under particularly windy conditions, when wet weather delays harvest or if a hailstorm hits the field when the crop is ripe. With an expanding human population and dramatic changes in climate patterns, the challenge to global food production has never been bigger, and to meet the demands it is essential that performance of our major crops be improved. However, the potential yield gain from such efforts cannot be fully realised if the farmer looses a significant part of his crop even before going out to harvest. Fruits from oilseed rape dry out at maturity and open to allow their seeds to be dispersed in a process known as pod shatter. Unfortunately, all the fruits in the field do not dry out at the same time making it difficult for oilseed rape farmers to time their harvest and obtain all the seeds. In addition to a significant yield loss, the prematurely released seeds fall to the ground and germinate to become weeds (volunteers) and contaminate the harvest of the following year. This severely inhibits the crop rotation practice used by many farmers and is therefore also damaging to the environment. Arabidopsis is a small, weedy plant that has been used as a laboratory model system to elucidate a wide range of aspects related to plant growth and development. Despite a dramatic size difference, fruits from Arabidopsis are remarkably similar to fruits from oilseed rape. In the past decade some of the key genetic regulators of fruit opening in Arabidopsis have been identified, and we have shown that these factors also function in species that are closely related to oilseed rape. In the proposed research project, we will exploit our knowledge to control pod shatter directly in high-yielding UK-elite oilseed rape varieties. Specifically we will manipulate and adjust the activity of a particular gene by the isolation of mutant plants and assessment of their performance in pod shatter-resistance tests. We will furthermore use mutated lines to expand our knowledge about the mechanism of fruit opening to enable us to fine-tune the pod shatter trait in future varieties. Particular strengths of this project are our genetic resources and our expertise in all the required technologies to successfully fulfill our objectives. In conclusion, we believe that the presented project will provide substantial benefits for both farmers and consumers, as well as for the environment.