Developing robust canola lines with enhanced shatter tolerance and improved seed degreening traits

油菜籽是加拿大的主要经济作物，每年为加拿大经济贡献约267亿美元。加拿大油菜籽，特别是加拿大西部的油菜籽，一直暴露在干旱和过早霜冻等不利天气条件下，导致豆荚早期破碎增加，油菜籽中绿色种子含量增加。我们最近已经确定了与转录因子脱落酸不敏感3(ABI3)有关的分子途径，该转录因子负责保护油菜免受霜冻诱导的绿色种子的伤害。我们现在有证据表明，在油菜籽中过表达这一途径可以提高油菜籽的耐碎性，并使油菜籽即使在霜冻后也能脱色。通过这项建议，与NUTRIEN合作，我们的目标是通过利用包括非转基因方法在内的多种方法来提高油菜籽的粉碎耐受性和脱脂能力。在短期内，在这个项目的过程中，我们建议提供既耐碎又抗营养的绿色种子的油菜籽改良种质，这些种质将立即用于他们的双单倍体生产系统，以提供高质量的油菜籽品系，供加拿大使用。从学术和科学的角度来看，这一提议将使我们能够产生关于激素串扰的新知识，这些知识可以调节这些迄今为止尚未被探索的农艺性状。从技术角度来看，这项提议还将使我们能够在油菜籽中建立CRISPR-CAS9平台，这将有助于我们未来的一些研究项目，包括与Nutrien的合作项目。通过这个项目，我们将产生油菜籽种质，通过提高耐碎性而提高产量，并通过生产绿色种子数量较少的更高等级的油菜籽，对农民产生立竿见影的好处。

Canola is the major cash crop in Canada which contributes ~ 26.7 billion dollars annually to the Canadian economy. Canadian canola, particularly in Western Canada is consistently exposed to unfavorable weather conditions such as drought and untimely frost that results in increased early shattering of pods and increased green seed content in canola seeds. We have recently identified the molecular pathway involving the transcription factor, Abscisic acid insensitive 3 (ABI3), that is responsible for protecting canola against frost-induced green seeds. We now have evidence that overexpression of this pathway in canola can improve shatter tolerance and confer degreening of canola seeds even after frost. Through this proposal, in partnership with NUTRIEN, we aim to achieve improved shatter tolerance and enhanced degreening in canola through exploiting multiple approaches including a non-GM approach. In the short-term, during the course of this project, we propose to deliver modified canola germplasm that are both shatter tolerant and green seed resistant to Nutrien, which will be immediately used in their double haploid production system to deliver high quality canola lines for use in Canada. From an academic and scientific perspective, this proposal will allow us generate new knowledge on hormonal cross-talk which can mediate these agronomic traits, which has not been explored thus far. From a technological standpoint, this proposal will also allow us to establish the CRISPR-Cas9 platform in canola which will help us with a number of future research projects including collaborative projects with Nutrien. Through this project, we will generate canola germplasms that will have immediate benefit to farmers by generating increased yield due to enhanced shatter tolerance, and also by producing higher grade canola with less green seed count.