New Genome Sequence Could Improve Oilseed Rape and More

By sequencing the genome of a Chinese cabbage variety of a plant called Brassica rapa, an international team of scientists have made it possible to improve the efficiency of oilseed rape breeding, as well as that of other important food and oil crops. Oilseed rape is an important source of vegetable oils for cooking and industrial applications.

By sequencing Brassica rapa, researchers are able to access half of oilseed rape's genes. "Oilseed rape is the second most important oil crop in the world and the most important in Europe. Sequencing its genes will provide breeders with the tools to improve the efficiency of developing new varieties, but this is difficult because it has a really complicated genome. Thankfully, because it is a hybrid, nature has already divided up the oilseed rape genome into two more manageable chunks, one of which we have now sequenced," said team leader Ian Bancroft of the John Innes Centre in the United Kingdom.

The research, published in the journal Nature Genetics, is funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

Subscribers to the journal can access the full article at http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ng.919.  A feature article from BBSRC is available at http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/news/food-security/2011/110830-pr-new-genome-sequence.aspx.