Development of an efficient B. rapa transformation system to facilitate studies on fruit development in a diploid Brassica oilseed crop.

转基因技术（这里称为转化）越来越多地被用作测试基因功能的研究工具。换句话说，植物转化可以被利用来过度表达/修饰或沉默植物基因，以确定特定基因的功能。这些研究的结果不是为了创造转基因作物，而是为了更好地了解这些性状的遗传控制，以促进传统的作物改良策略。例如，在英国，油菜（Brassica napus）因其籽油而被广泛种植。与其他作物相比，油菜是一种相对年轻的作物，尚未完全优化生产效率（总收获指数：可收获生物量较低），尽管有利可图，但仍有相当大的改进空间。其中一个特征是过早的豆荚破碎（种子在收获前和收获期间洒在田间），这导致每年约有10%的种子损失（价值约为每年6000万英镑）。更好地了解哪些基因参与了早期荚果破碎，可能会导致标记辅助育种（非转基因方法）选择具有更强荚果破碎抗性的育种材料。甘蓝型油菜的遗传学更加复杂，因为它是一种双二倍体物种，这意味着它包含了两个二倍体亲本祖先B. rapa（一种油籽和蔬菜作物）和B.甘蓝（一种蔬菜作物）的完整基因组。因此，了解许多水果和油籽性状背后的遗传控制的愿望最好在B. rapa基因组的第一个实例中进行探索。在本研究中，我们的目标是在快速循环的油菜油籽作物中开发一种鲁棒和高效的转化方法。这种资源的可用性在研究水果和油籽性状的研究界将是非常可取的，因此二倍体物种最终更适合进行遗传研究。随着rapa基因组序列的接近完成，该项目尤其及时；与B. rapa TILLING （Targeting Induced Local病变IN genomics）互补，这是一种在相同遗传背景下产生的“反向遗传学”资源。

GM technology (referred to here as transformation) is increasingly being exploited as a research tool for testing gene function. Put another way plant transformation can be exploited to over-express/ modify or silence plant genes in order to determine the function of a particular gene. The results of these studies are not to create GM crops, but to better understand the genetic control of these traits to facilitate conventional crop improvement strategies. For example, within the UK oilseed rape (Brassica napus) is grown widely for its seed oil. Compared to other crops, oilseed rape is a relatively young crop and one not yet fully optimized for efficient production (low harvest index of total: harvestable biomass), although profitable, there remains considerable scope for crop improvement. One such trait being early pod shatter (where seed is spilled in the field prior to, and during harvest) this accounts for >10% seed loss every year (valued at about £60 million per year). A better understanding of which genes are involved in early pod shatter, may lead to marker assisted breeding (non GM approach) to select breeding material with greater pod shatter resistance. The genetics of Brassica napus are further complicated because it is an amphidiploid species, meaning it contains the complete genome of the two diploid parental progenitors B. rapa (an oilseed and vegetable crop) and B. oleracea (a vegetable crop). The desire to understand the genetic control behind many fruit and oilseed traits is therefore best explored in the first instance in the genome of B. rapa. In the current proposal we aim to develop a robust and efficient transformation method in a rapid-cycling B. rapa oilseed crop. The availability of such a resource will be highly desirable within the research community for studying fruit and oilseed traits, and for which a diploid species is ultimately more desirable for genetic studies. The project is particularly timely with the near completion of the B. rapa genome sequence; and complementary to the B. rapa TILLING (Targeting Induced Local Lesions IN Genomes) a 'reverse genetics' resource, which has been produced in the same genetic background.