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Segregation for fertility and meiotic stability in novel Brassica allohexaploids

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Abstract

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Allohexaploid Brassica populations reveal ongoing segregation for fertility, while genotype influences fertility and meiotic stability.

Abstract

Creation of a new Brassica allohexaploid species is of interest for the development of a crop type with increased heterosis and adaptability. At present, no naturally occurring, meiotically stable Brassica allohexaploid exists, with little data available on chromosome behaviour and meiotic control in allohexaploid germplasm. In this study, 100 plants from the cross B. carinata × B. rapa (A2 allohexaploid population) and 69 plants from the cross (B. napus × B. carinata) × B. juncea (H2 allohexaploid population) were assessed for fertility and meiotic behaviour. Estimated pollen viability, self-pollinated seed set, number of seeds on the main shoot, number of pods on the main shoot, seeds per ten pods and plant height were measured for both the A2 and H2 populations and for a set of reference control cultivars. The H2 population had high segregation for pollen viability and meiotic stability, while the A2 population was characterised by low pollen fertility and a high level of chromosome loss. Both populations were taller, but had lower average fertility trait values than the control cultivar samples. The study also characterises fertility and meiotic chromosome behaviour in genotypes and progeny sets in heterozygous allotetraploid Brassica derived lines, and indicates that genotypes of the parents and H1 hybrids are affecting chromosome pairing and fertility phenotypes in the H2 population. The identification and characterisation of factors influencing stability in novel allohexaploid Brassica populations will assist in the development of this as a new crop species for food and agricultural benefit.

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Acknowledgements

This project, including a three month research visit by Margaret Mwathi from The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia to Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India was supported by an Australia–India Strategic Research Fund: Biotechnology grant (Project BF06520), jointly funded by the Australian Government Department of Industry, Innovation and Science and the Indian Government Department of Biotechnology. ASM is funded by Emmy Noether DFG Grant MA6473/1-1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia

    Margaret W. Mwathi, Jacqueline Batley & Annaliese S. Mason

  2. Department of Plant Breeding, Research Centre for Biosystems, Land Use and Nutrition, Justus Liebig University, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26-32, 35392, Giessen, Germany

    Annaliese S. Mason

  3. School of Plant Biology, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia

    Margaret W. Mwathi & Jacqueline Batley

  4. Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, DBT Centre of Excellence on Brassicas, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 141001, India

    Mehak Gupta, Chaya Atri & Surinder S. Banga

Authors
  1. Margaret W. Mwathi
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  2. Mehak Gupta
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  3. Chaya Atri
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  4. Surinder S. Banga
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  5. Jacqueline Batley
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  6. Annaliese S. Mason
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Annaliese S. Mason.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical standards

The authors declare that the study complies with the current laws of the country (India) in which they were performed.

Additional information

Communicated by Richard G. F. Visser.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

122_2016_2850_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Phenotypic traits (A, B, C and D) in an allohexaploid population (A2) derived from crosses between B. rapa and B. carinata compared against control cultivar samples B. carinata (PC5) and B. rapa (TL-17) (PDF 39 KB)

122_2016_2850_MOESM2_ESM.pdf

Phenotypic traits (A, B, C and D) in an allohexaploid population (H2) derived from the cross (B. napus × B. carinata) × B. juncea compared against control cultivars B. carinata (PC5), B. juncea (RLC-1) and B. napus (GSC-5) (PDF 38 KB)

122_2016_2850_MOESM3_ESM.pdf

Scatter plot matrix showing correlation and distributions of phenotypic traits between A. An allohexaploid population (A2) derived from crosses between B. rapa and B. carinata and B. An allohexaploid population (H2) derived from the cross (B. napus × B. carinata) × B. juncea (PDF 56 KB)

122_2016_2850_MOESM4_ESM.pdf

Genotypes in the H2 allohexaploid population derived from the cross (B. napus × B. carinata) × B. juncea, showing significant differences between genotypes in plant height, (p < 0.05, a and b Tukey’s HSD) (PDF 13 KB)

122_2016_2850_MOESM5_ESM.pdf

Progeny sets in the H2 allohexaploid population derived from the cross (B. napus × B. carinata) × B. juncea, showing significant differences in plant height,(p < 0.05, between progeny sets in “G1” and “G2” genotypes, between progeny sets in “G2”and “G3” genotype, and between progeny sets in “G1” and “G3” genotypes, Tukey’s HSD) (PDF 25 KB)

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Mwathi, M.W., Gupta, M., Atri, C. et al. Segregation for fertility and meiotic stability in novel Brassica allohexaploids. Theor Appl Genet 130, 767–776 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-016-2850-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-016-2850-8

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