Development of rapeseed with high erucic acid content by asymmetric somatic hybridization between Brassica napus and Crambe abyssinica

• Published in: Theoretical and applied genetics Vol. 106; no. 7; pp. 1147 - 1155
• Main Authors: WANG, Y. P, SONNTAG, K, RUDLOFF, E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01.05.2003; Berlin Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Brassica napus - genetics; Brassica rapa - chemistry; Brassica rapa - genetics; Chromosomes; Chromosomes, Plant; Crambe Plant - genetics; Culture Techniques; Erucic Acids - analysis; Fatty acids; Fertility; Flow Cytometry; Flowers & plants; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genomes; Hybridization; Hybridization, Genetic; Infertility; Molecular and cellular biology; Rape plants; Seeds; Germany; Brassica napus; Genetics; High erucic acid rapeseed; Crambe abyssinica Somatic hybridization; UV-irradiation
• ISSN: 0040-5752; 1432-2242
• DOI: 10.1007/s00122-002-1176-x

PEG-induced asymmetric somatic hybridization between Brassica napus and Crambe abyssinica was carried out. C. abyssinica is an annual cruciferous oil crop with a high content of erucic acid in the seed oil valuable for technical purposes. UV-irradiated mesophyll protoplasts of C. abyssinica cv 'Carmen' and cv 'Galactica' were fused with hypocotyl protoplasts of different genotypes of B. napus cv 'Maplus' and breeding line '11502'. Shoot regeneration frequency varied between 6.1% and 20.8% among the different doses of UV-irradiation, ranging from 0.05 J/cm² to 0.30 J/cm². In total, 124 shoots were regenerated, of which 20 asymmetric somatic hybrids were obtained and verified by nuclear DNA content and AFLP analysis. AFLP data showed that some of the characteristic bands from C. abyssinica were present in the hybrids. Cytological analysis of these hybrids showed that 9 out of 20 asymmetric hybrids had 38 chromosomes, the others contained 40–78 chromosomes, having additional chromosomes between 2 and 40 beyond the 38 expected for B. napus. The investigation into the fertility of asymmetric somatic hybrids indicated that the fertility increased with increasing UV-doses ranging from 0.05 J/cm² to 0.15 J/cm². All of the hybrids were cultured to full maturity, and could be fertilized and set seeds after self-pollination or backcrosses with B. napus. An analysis of fatty acid composition in the seeds was conducted and found to contain significantly greater amounts of erucic acid than B. napus. This study indicates that UV-irradiation could be used as a tool to produce asymmetric somatic hybrids and to promote the fertility of the hybrids.