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。几千年前，通过简单的选择育种就解决了谷物种子传播控制的问题，但对油菜来说仍然是一个严重的问题。由于果实过早开放，即荚果破碎，农民每年平均损失约为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，这种损失可能会超过50%。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，我们必须提高主要作物的性能。然而，如果农民在收获之前就损失了很大一部分作物，那么这种努力所带来的潜在产量收益就无法完全实现。油菜的果实在成熟时变干，然后打开，让它们的种子在称为豆荚破碎的过程中分散开来。不幸的是，田地里的所有果实并不是在同一时间干枯的，这使得油菜农民很难把握收割时间并获得所有的种子。除了严重的产量损失外，过早释放的种子落在地上发芽成为杂草（志愿者）并污染下一年的收成。这严重阻碍了许多农民采用的作物轮作做法，因此也对环境造成破坏。拟南芥是一种小型杂草植物，已被用作实验室模型系统来阐明与植物生长发育有关的广泛方面。尽管大小差异很大，但拟南芥的果实与油菜的果实非常相似。在过去的十年中，已经确定了拟南芥果实开放的一些关键遗传调控因子，并且我们已经证明这些因子也在与油菜密切相关的物种中起作用。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优质高产油菜品种的豆荚破碎。具体来说，我们将通过分离突变植物和评估它们在抗豆荚破碎试验中的表现来操纵和调整特定基因的活性。我们将进一步利用突变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。这个项目的特别优势是我们的遗传资源和我们在成功实现我们目标所需的所有技术方面的专业知识。总之，我们相信这个项目将为农民和消费者以及环境带来巨大的利益。

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.