BBSRC Renewable Industrial Products from Rapeseed (RIPR) Programme
Lead Research Organisation:
University of York
Department Name: Biology
Abstract
Oilseed rape is commercially viable because a co-product can be exploited (a protein-rich feed for animals) in addition to the primary product (oil). However, many other valuable products could be extracted and exploited commercially, adding value to the crop. This opportunity is particularly important for emerging industrial applications of rapeseed oil (such as thermally-stable oil types produced recently by JIC), where the product must compete on price with mineral oil if it is to be successful commercially and hence adopted sufficiently widely to realize the associated environmental benefits. The serial purification of co-products is termed "bio-refining". Emerging opportunities include tocopherols (vitamin E) and phytosterols (cholesterol lowering compounds) from rapeseed oil, waxes (with aphid-repellent properties and those with medical properties) from pod walls and stems, and functional polysaccharides (including high-value stabilisers, surfactants and barriers) from stems. Although the biosynthetic pathways involved in the synthesis of these compounds are known to some extent from studies conducted in species such as Arabidopsis thaliana, the quantitative control of their accumulation (key to yield of the compounds) is not understood. Such products have not been foci for crop improvement by breeders, so there is no improved germplasm and no molecular markers are available to aid breeding. Similarly, the efficiency with which fertilizer is used by rapeseed is poorly understood, but its optimization is essential for the commercial production of substitutes for mineral oil as fertilizer is both expensive and potentially damaging to the environment.
The approach of associating disease or other traits with DNA sequence variation has become a key tool in human genetics and has also been applied successfully in a few plants. The drawback for most crops is that the traditional approach has been expensive. However, recent advances in sequencing technology and genomics has led to the emergence of a technology termed Associative Transcriptomics, which makes this approach accessible for most crops. In this approach, the search for DNA sequence variation is focussed on gene sequences and variation for gene expression is also exploited; both providing very large sets of potential "markers" for trait variation. The technology has been proven recently using a small genetic diversity panel of Brassica napus (the species that includes oilseed rape as one of its crop types) and is ready for scale-up to a full and widely-used genetic diversity panel, i.e. that termed the ASSYST panel. This approach is ideally suited to the initial genetic analysis of traits for which little is know as it quickly enables the estimation of genetic complexity, the development of hypotheses for the control of traits and produces molecular markers that can be used to assist breeding.
The proposed research aims to exploit Associative Transcriptomics to identify genes associated with the control of a range of bio-refining targets and fertilizer use traits. Data will all be made publicly available. The annotations of genes showing either sequence or expression variation associated with trait variation will be examined. Hypotheses will be developed for both the control of the pathways involved and predictive capabilities of molecular markers arising from the identified relationships between gene sequence and/or expression variation and trait variation. These will be tested by the quantitative analysis of traits following the inter-crossing of different plant lines from the collection and/or the selection and testing of plant lines from a population chemically treated to induce gene sequence variation. Using the knowledge gained, mathematical models will be developed to help industry estimate economic and environmental consequences of the development of optimised new cultivars.
The approach of associating disease or other traits with DNA sequence variation has become a key tool in human genetics and has also been applied successfully in a few plants. The drawback for most crops is that the traditional approach has been expensive. However, recent advances in sequencing technology and genomics has led to the emergence of a technology termed Associative Transcriptomics, which makes this approach accessible for most crops. In this approach, the search for DNA sequence variation is focussed on gene sequences and variation for gene expression is also exploited; both providing very large sets of potential "markers" for trait variation. The technology has been proven recently using a small genetic diversity panel of Brassica napus (the species that includes oilseed rape as one of its crop types) and is ready for scale-up to a full and widely-used genetic diversity panel, i.e. that termed the ASSYST panel. This approach is ideally suited to the initial genetic analysis of traits for which little is know as it quickly enables the estimation of genetic complexity, the development of hypotheses for the control of traits and produces molecular markers that can be used to assist breeding.
The proposed research aims to exploit Associative Transcriptomics to identify genes associated with the control of a range of bio-refining targets and fertilizer use traits. Data will all be made publicly available. The annotations of genes showing either sequence or expression variation associated with trait variation will be examined. Hypotheses will be developed for both the control of the pathways involved and predictive capabilities of molecular markers arising from the identified relationships between gene sequence and/or expression variation and trait variation. These will be tested by the quantitative analysis of traits following the inter-crossing of different plant lines from the collection and/or the selection and testing of plant lines from a population chemically treated to induce gene sequence variation. Using the knowledge gained, mathematical models will be developed to help industry estimate economic and environmental consequences of the development of optimised new cultivars.
Technical Summary
The principal aim of the project is to understand the genetic control, in rapeseed, of the accumulation of compounds representing emerging bio-refining opportunities and fertilizer use efficiency. We will:
1. Establish data models for Brassica transcriptomics and traits. This involves the development of databases and systems enabling the UK Brassica research community to access, analysis and exploit large-scale gene sequence and expression datasets, trait data and marker-trait associations.
2. Determine and make available functional genotypes for Brassica diversity collections. This involves the production of Illumina sequence reads from mRNA extracted from the leaves of each of 600 Brassica accessions (400 B. napus accessions plus 100 accessions of each of B. rapa and B. oleracea), along with the identification and scoring of sequence polymorphisms and quantification of transcript abundance.
3. Improve our understanding of the genetic bases of rapeseed bio-refining traits: tocopherols, phytosterols, waxes and functional polysaccharides, and nutrient use efficiency. This will involve the use of Associative Transcriptomics (a combination of genome-wide association scans, gene expression correlation with trait variation and co-expression network analysis) to identify gene sequence and/or gene expression markers. Hypotheses and markers will be developed for the control of product accumulation. These will be tested by the quantitative analysis of traits following the inter-crossing of plant lines from the collection and/or the selection and testing of plant lines from a "TILLING" population.
4. Develop models for both economic and environmental sustainability of rapeseed. This involves both a cost-benefit analysis for the economic exploitation of co-products from rapeseed and an assessment of the potential environmental impacts, taking into account the potential for improving nutrient use efficiency.
1. Establish data models for Brassica transcriptomics and traits. This involves the development of databases and systems enabling the UK Brassica research community to access, analysis and exploit large-scale gene sequence and expression datasets, trait data and marker-trait associations.
2. Determine and make available functional genotypes for Brassica diversity collections. This involves the production of Illumina sequence reads from mRNA extracted from the leaves of each of 600 Brassica accessions (400 B. napus accessions plus 100 accessions of each of B. rapa and B. oleracea), along with the identification and scoring of sequence polymorphisms and quantification of transcript abundance.
3. Improve our understanding of the genetic bases of rapeseed bio-refining traits: tocopherols, phytosterols, waxes and functional polysaccharides, and nutrient use efficiency. This will involve the use of Associative Transcriptomics (a combination of genome-wide association scans, gene expression correlation with trait variation and co-expression network analysis) to identify gene sequence and/or gene expression markers. Hypotheses and markers will be developed for the control of product accumulation. These will be tested by the quantitative analysis of traits following the inter-crossing of plant lines from the collection and/or the selection and testing of plant lines from a "TILLING" population.
4. Develop models for both economic and environmental sustainability of rapeseed. This involves both a cost-benefit analysis for the economic exploitation of co-products from rapeseed and an assessment of the potential environmental impacts, taking into account the potential for improving nutrient use efficiency.
Planned Impact
The proposed research is very well aligned with BBSRC's strategic objectives. Rapeseed is the UK's main vegetable oil crop and of importance for food security (BBSRC's research priority 1), both directly in terms of its production of edible oil and use of residual meal (the material left after extraction of oil from seeds) for feed, and indirectly due to its importance in rotation with cereal crops. Rapeseed is grown on a large scale in the UK (~700,000 Ha in 2011/12) and provides enormous opportunities for bioenergy and industrial biotechnology (BBSRC's research priority 2), particularly for providing renewable substitutes for mineral oil (e.g. modified oil composition for lubricants and biofuels derived from waste straw) and as a source of a range of high value compounds via bio-refining.
Beneficiaries:
The immediate beneficiaries of the research will be the industry partners: Cargill, Biogemma, Limagrain, Monsanto, HGCA, CaseIH and ADAS.
Direct beneficiaries, but on a longer time scale, will be the broader rapeseed breeding and farming industries.
Indirect beneficiaries are the broad range of breeders, farmers and processors around the world working with crops on which the technology will act as an exemplar for rapidly addressing the economic and environmental feasibility of bio-refining.
Benefits:
Cargill will have early access to knowledge of the ranges of quantity and types of co-product that can realistically be accumulated in rapeseed.
Rapeseed breeders will have molecular markers and germplasm to underpin the breeding of rapeseed cultivars with enhanced value from co-products and improved fertilizer use efficiency.
Farmers (represented by HGCA) will be able to sell rapeseed from new cultivars for a higher price per tonne and gain a return from residues such as straw and pod walls, as processors will be able to purify and sell on valuable co-products.
Indirect beneficiaries in other crops will benefit in the same ways as their counterparts in the rapeseed industry.
UK economic performance will benefit as the country's agricultural products will have increased value; similarly for global economic performance.
Public health will benefit as the work will underpin the development of new sources of important compounds with benefits such as dietary antioxidants and lowering LDL cholesterol.
There will be environmental benefits. Directly, alleles that result in improved fertilizer utilization efficiency can be introduced into conventional rapeseed for the production of edible oil. Indirectly, rapeseed lines have recently been developed that produce highly thermo-stable oil that could provide a renewable substitute for mineral oil in a range of applicants such as lubricants and hydraulic fluids. Tocopherols and phytosterols could provide a high value co-product to be extracted from rapeseed oil before such industrial applications, improving the economics of producing such oil.
There are industrial applications for co-products. For example tocopherols are attracting increasing interest as thermal stabilisers in melt polymers (e.g. in the production of LLDPE films) and in lubricants intended for a sensitive environment such as food production. Some of the wax molecular compounds are important semiochemical molecules that help reducing aphid foraging on important food crops. Functional polysaccharides include high value stabilisers, surfactants and barriers.
Beneficiaries:
The immediate beneficiaries of the research will be the industry partners: Cargill, Biogemma, Limagrain, Monsanto, HGCA, CaseIH and ADAS.
Direct beneficiaries, but on a longer time scale, will be the broader rapeseed breeding and farming industries.
Indirect beneficiaries are the broad range of breeders, farmers and processors around the world working with crops on which the technology will act as an exemplar for rapidly addressing the economic and environmental feasibility of bio-refining.
Benefits:
Cargill will have early access to knowledge of the ranges of quantity and types of co-product that can realistically be accumulated in rapeseed.
Rapeseed breeders will have molecular markers and germplasm to underpin the breeding of rapeseed cultivars with enhanced value from co-products and improved fertilizer use efficiency.
Farmers (represented by HGCA) will be able to sell rapeseed from new cultivars for a higher price per tonne and gain a return from residues such as straw and pod walls, as processors will be able to purify and sell on valuable co-products.
Indirect beneficiaries in other crops will benefit in the same ways as their counterparts in the rapeseed industry.
UK economic performance will benefit as the country's agricultural products will have increased value; similarly for global economic performance.
Public health will benefit as the work will underpin the development of new sources of important compounds with benefits such as dietary antioxidants and lowering LDL cholesterol.
There will be environmental benefits. Directly, alleles that result in improved fertilizer utilization efficiency can be introduced into conventional rapeseed for the production of edible oil. Indirectly, rapeseed lines have recently been developed that produce highly thermo-stable oil that could provide a renewable substitute for mineral oil in a range of applicants such as lubricants and hydraulic fluids. Tocopherols and phytosterols could provide a high value co-product to be extracted from rapeseed oil before such industrial applications, improving the economics of producing such oil.
There are industrial applications for co-products. For example tocopherols are attracting increasing interest as thermal stabilisers in melt polymers (e.g. in the production of LLDPE films) and in lubricants intended for a sensitive environment such as food production. Some of the wax molecular compounds are important semiochemical molecules that help reducing aphid foraging on important food crops. Functional polysaccharides include high value stabilisers, surfactants and barriers.
Organisations
- University of York (Lead Research Organisation)
- UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM (Collaboration)
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (Collaboration)
- Instituto de la Grasa (Collaboration)
- Cargill Europe (Collaboration)
- Cargill (Netherlands) (Project Partner)
- Case IH UK (Project Partner)
- Monsanto (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Biogemma (France) (Project Partner)
- James Hutton Institute (Project Partner)
- Limagrain (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Agricultural Development Advisory Service (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Elsoms (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
Publications
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
Broughton R
(2018)
New insights in the composition of wax and sterol esters in common and mutant sunflower oils revealed by ESI-MS/MS.
in Food chemistry
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
T. Doheny-Adams
(2017)
MOESM1 of Development of an efficient glucosinolate extraction method
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
Bayer PE
(2021)
Modelling of gene loss propensity in the pangenomes of three Brassica species suggests different mechanisms between polyploids and diploids.
in Plant biotechnology journal
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
Alcock TD
(2021)
Magnesium and calcium overaccumulate in the leaves of a schengen3 mutant of Brassica rapa.
in Plant physiology
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
Eckes AH
(2017)
Introducing the Brassica Information Portal: Towards integrating genotypic and phenotypic Brassica crop data.
in F1000Research
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
Eckes A
(2017)
Introducing the Brassica Information Portal: Towards integrating genotypic and phenotypic Brassica crop data
in F1000Research
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
Shen E
(2015)
Identification, evolution, and expression partitioning of miRNAs in allopolyploid Brassica napus.
in Journal of experimental botany
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
Alcock TD
(2017)
Identification of Candidate Genes for Calcium and Magnesium Accumulation in Brassica napus L. by Association Genetics.
in Frontiers in plant science
Description | There is extensive variation in the crop species Brassica napus for many co-products of potential use in industrial biotechnology and health. Associative Transcriptomics is effective for identifying molecular markers associated with the genes controlling this variation and in many instances has enabled the identification of candidates for the causative genes themselves. |
Exploitation Route | The findings will be taken forward by the rapeseed breeding industry. In particular, they are likely to underpin the commercial exploitation of a number of co-products from oilseed rape, such as antioxidants, phytosterols and waxes. Also, the understandings gained of nutrient use efficiency will help inform the development of new, nutrient-efficient varieties. The successful development of new cultivars with enhanced value in their co-products will benefit the downstream industry, initially farmers and seed crushers. End users would include both industry (who will use co-products as biodegradable materials) and the general public (who will gain access to more plentiful supplies of Vitamin E and phytosterols, both of which have been implicated in improving health. |
Sectors | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Chemicals,Energy,Healthcare,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
URL | http://www.yorknowledgebase.info/ |
Description | BBSRC GCRF IAA 'Impact Enhancement Award' |
Amount | £48,019 (GBP) |
Funding ID | BB/GCRF-IAA/23 |
Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 10/2016 |
End | 12/2016 |
Description | BBSRC GCRF IAA 'Impact Enhancement Award' |
Amount | £5,760 (GBP) |
Funding ID | BB/GCRF-IAA/23 |
Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 12/2016 |
End | 03/2017 |
Description | Defra ITT |
Amount | £556,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | CH0104 |
Organisation | Department For Environment, Food And Rural Affairs (DEFRA) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2015 |
End | 01/2017 |
Description | Development of non-glaucous Brassica napus lines by genome editing for enhancing pathogen resistance and reducing chemical sprays. |
Amount | 4,119,484Â kr (SEK) |
Organisation | Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning (FORMAS) |
Sector | Private |
Country | Sweden |
Start | 03/2018 |
End | 02/2022 |
Description | HEFCE Catalyst |
Amount | £8,000,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Higher Education Funding Council for England |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 05/2015 |
End | 04/2020 |
Description | ITT |
Amount | £278,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | CH0104-CCN01 |
Organisation | Department For Environment, Food And Rural Affairs (DEFRA) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2017 |
End | 07/2018 |
Description | Low progoitrin food grade rapeseed |
Amount | £319,567 (GBP) |
Funding ID | BB/S004823/1 |
Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 04/2019 |
End | 03/2021 |
Description | Manipulating epicuticular wax structure and composition to improve photosynthesis and increase the yield of Brassica oilseed crops |
Amount | £300,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Rothamsted Research |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 02/2015 |
End | 01/2018 |
Title | High throughput HPLC-ESI-MS/MS profilling method for analysis of free and esterified sterols in biological samples |
Description | We have developed a high throughput HPLC/ELSD-ESI-MS/MS method for the compositional and content analysis of seed sterols and steryl esters in a B. napus diversity collection (over 400 accessions representing the ASSYST panel). 1600 samples analysed. This methods expanded the analytical capability of the state of the art lipidomic platform available at Rothamsted Research. |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2017 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | This methods has been extented to include detectection of wax esters as well as sterol esters in seed oil samples. This allowed the accurate compositional analysis of the ester fraction in commercial sunflower oil as well as in mutant varieties. This work may have implications for vegetable oil treatment and authentication allowing both the reduction of oil turbidity at room temperature (wax esters) and the detection of fraudulent mixture of high value oils with cheaper and lower quality oils (steryl esters markers). This work was submitted to food Chemistry and is curently under review: New insights in the composition of Wax and Sterol Esters in common and mutant sunflower oils revealed by ESI-MS/MS. Richard Broughton, Noemi Ruíz-Lopez, Enrique Martínez-Force, Rafael Garcés, Fred Beaudoin* and Joaquín J. Salas* (2018). |
Title | Brassica Information Portal (BIP) |
Description | Manages trait data for UK Brassica research community |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2017 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Increased awareness of requirements for metadata. |
URL | https://bip.earlham.ac.uk/ |
Description | Analysis of the Wax and Steryl Ester content in vegetable oils. Implications for oil processing, authentification and commercialisation. |
Organisation | Instituto de la Grasa |
Country | Spain |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Lipidomic profiling of oil minor components (wax and lipid soluble bioactives) GC-FID, GC-MS, ESI-MS/MS |
Collaborator Contribution | Oil crops cultivation and harvesting Oil extraction, testing of biophysical properties |
Impact | one research article in Food sciences |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Composition and properties of B napus oleosome ghosts for use as a structuring and functional food ingredient |
Organisation | Cargill Europe |
Country | Belgium |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Students and PDRAs training in lipid biochemistry analytical methods. Lipidomic analyses |
Collaborator Contribution | Extraction, purification of OSR oil bodies, biophysical properties testing. |
Impact | joint RRes-UoN iCASE PhD studentship |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Composition and properties of B napus oleosome ghosts for use as a structuring and functional food ingredient |
Organisation | University of Nottingham |
Department | University of Nottingham Museum |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Students and PDRAs training in lipid biochemistry analytical methods. Lipidomic analyses |
Collaborator Contribution | Extraction, purification of OSR oil bodies, biophysical properties testing. |
Impact | joint RRes-UoN iCASE PhD studentship |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Development of non-glaucous Brassica napus lines by genome editing |
Organisation | Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences |
Country | Sweden |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Biochemical and physiological characterisation of genome edited B.napus lines |
Collaborator Contribution | generation of genome edited B. napus lines |
Impact | work in progress |
Start Year | 2018 |
Company Name | NUSPEC BIOSCIENCE LIMITED |
Description | Spin-out formed to promote application of Bancroft group genomics know-how as commercial services. |
Year Established | 2019 |
Impact | Too early to have impacts as trading not yet commenced. |
Description | 22nd International Symposium on Plant Lipids, Goettingen |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Poster presentation Development of an ESI-MS/MS method for high throughput profiling of free and esterified sterols and Associative Transcriptomic analysis of seed phytosterol content and composition using a B. napus diversity panel Richard Broughton1, Lenka Havlickova2, Andrea Harper2, Ian Bancroft2 and Frédéric Beaudoin1 1Biological Chemistry and Crop Protection Department, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, AL5 2JQ, UK. 2 Department of Biology, University of York, Heslington, YO10 5DD, UK. Oilseed rape (Brassica napus) is a commercially viable crop owing partly to the seed oil co-products which can be exploited commercially, adding value to the crop. One emerging "bio-refining" opportunity in rapeseed involves the extraction and purification of phytosterols from the oil. Phytosterols are industrially important due to their increasing use as both a functional food component and as nutraceuticals (role in lowering LDL cholesterol). Phytosterols exist in two predominant forms in Brassica napus seeds, free sterols and steryl esters, and it is the latter that is of greater industrial use because of their increased solubility in fat and oil based food products. Although the biosynthetic pathways involved in the synthesis of plant sterols are known to some extent from studies conducted in species such as Arabidopsis thaliana, the quantitative control of their accumulation (key to yield of these compounds) is not understood. In addition, as seed phytosterol content has not been the foci for crop improvement by breeders, there is no improved germplasm or molecular markers available to aid breeding. We have developed a high throughput ESI-MS/MS method for the compositional and content analysis of seed sterols and steryl esters in a B. napus diversity collection (over 400 accessions representing the ASSYST panel). Here we report the quantitative variations observed and the identification of sequence (SNPs) and gene expression markers (GEMs) associated with these traits in both the A and the C genomes. The strong correlation observed between SNPs and GEMs will greatly facilitate the identification and cloning of the underlying causal genes. Interestingly, we found that very long chain fatty acids are completely excluded from the steryl ester fraction, regardless of the seed fatty acid composition, and that steryl ester content strongly correlates with the seed total sterol content. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
URL | http://www.eurofedlipid.org/meetings/archive/goettingen2016/ |
Description | 7th European Symposium on Plant Lipids (ESPL) in Harpenden |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Presentation of the BBSRC RIPR sLoLa project at the 7th European Symposium on Plant Lipids in Harpenden. Associative transcriptomic approach to improving the value of co-products in oilseed rape (B. napus)*. Richard Broughton1, Lenka Havlickova2, Andrea L. Harper2, Ian Bancroft2 and Frédéric Beaudoin1 1 Biological chemistry and crop protection department, Rothamsted research, West Common, Harpenden, AL5 2JQ. 2 Department of Biology, University of York, Heslington, YO10 5DD. Oilseed rape is commercially viable because a co-product can be exploited (a protein-rich feed for animals) in addition to the primary product (oil). However, many other valuable products could be extracted and exploited commercially, adding value to the crop. This opportunity is particularly important for emerging industrial applications of rapeseed oil where the product must compete on price with mineral oil if it is to be successful commercially and hence adopted sufficiently widely to realize the associated environmental benefits. The serial purification of co-products is termed "bio-refining". Emerging opportunities include tocopherols and phytosterols from rapeseed oil, cuticular waxes from pod walls and stems, and functional polysaccharides from stems. Although the biosynthetic pathways involved in the synthesis of these compounds are known to some extent from studies conducted in species such as Arabidopsis thaliana, the quantitative control of their accumulation (key to yield of the compounds) is not understood. Such products have not been foci for crop improvement by breeders, so there is no improved germplasm and no molecular markers are available to aid breeding. The RIPR* project aims to improve our understanding of the genetic component controlling the quantitative variation observed for selected bio-refining traits of rapeseed (e.g. phytosterol and waxes) building upon knowledge of the biosynthetic pathways developed in species such as A. thaliana. It includes the testing of hypotheses developed using Associative Transcriptomics (an RNAseq-based genome-wide association method focussed on variations in both gene sequence and gene expression), the production of new germplasm and the validation of predictive markers to aid its exploitation by breeders. We have developed high throughput procedures for quantitative and qualitative analysis of straw/pod wax and seed phytosterol contents in a Brassica diversity collection (circa 600 Brassica accessions: ~400 B. napus accessions representing the ASSYST diversity panel plus B. oleracea, B. rapa and other Brassicaceae to represent broader diversity). Here we report the quantitative variations observed and the identification of both sequence (SNPs) and gene expression markers (GEMs) associated with variations in these traits. *This work is part of the BBSRC Renewable Industrial Products from Rapeseed (RIPR) Programme (BB/L002124/1 PI: Ian Bancroft) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://www.eurofedlipid.org/meetings/archive/harpenden2015/index.php |
Description | 8th European Symposium on Plant Lipids |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Scientific presentation, Monday 3rd July 2017: High-throughput Profiling of Free and Esterified Sterols and Associative Transcriptomics Analysis of Seed Phytosterol Content and Composition in a B. napus diversity Panel (ASSYST) R. Broughton, Harpenden/GB , L. Havlickova, York/GB, A. Harper, York/GB, I. Bancroft, York/GB, F. Beaudoin, Harpenden/GB |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | http://www.eurofedlipid.org/meetings/malmoe2017/index.php#programme |
Description | Alcock TD et al. (2015). Identifying genes controlling nutrient uptake and distribution in oilseed rape (Brassica napus). The 14th International Rapeseed Congress, Saskatoon, Canada, July 5-9 2015. [Talk] |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Talk at scientific conference. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Alcock TD, Hayden R, Wilson L, Bancroft I, White PJ, Broadley MR, Graham NS (2016) Identifying genes controlling nutrient uptake and distribution in oilseed rape (Brassica napus). Brassica2016 Melbourne, Australia, 3-6 October 2016. [Poster, Talk] |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Talk at scientific conference. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Conference (Beijing) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Talk on "Genome structural variation in oilseed rape" at 7th International Crop Science Congress, Beijing 15/8/16. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Fraser A et al. (2015). Improving nitrogen-use efficiency in oilseed rape. The 14th International Rapeseed Congress, Saskatoon, Canada, July 5-9 2015. [Talk] |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Talk at scientific conference. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Fraser A et al. (2016) Improving nitrogen use efficiency in oilseed rape (Brassica napus). EMBO Conference - The nitrogen nutrition of plants. Nitrogen 2016, Montpellier, France, 22-26 August 2016. [Talk] |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Talk at scientific conference. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Fraser A et al. (2016) Phenotyping to improve nutrient use efficiency in oilseed rape. Canola Innovation Day, Saskatoon, Canada, 1 December 2016. [Talk] |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Talk at industry/science meeting |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Invited Keynote lecture, 13th Euro Fed Lipid Congress in Florence |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Oilseed crops as integrated production platforms for food, feed, fuel and renewable industrial feedstock Frédéric Beaudoin1, Noemi Ruiz-Lopez2, Richard Broughton1, Edgar Cahoon3, Ian Bancroft4 and Johnathan A. Napier1 1 Rothamsted research, Harpenden, AL5 2JQ, UK 2 Instituto de la grasa, Sevilla, Spain 3 Center for Plant Science Innovation, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, USA 4 University of York, Heslington, YO10 5DD, UK. The world faces considerable challenges including how to produce more biomass for food, feed, fuel and industrial feedstock without significantly impacting on our environment, or increasing our consumption of limited resources such as water or petroleum-derived carbon. This has been described as sustainable intensification. Oleaginous crops have the potential to provide renewable resources for all these commodities, provided they can be engineered to meet end-use requirements and that they can be produced in sufficient quantities to meet current growing world population and industrial demands. This will require more efficient crop production systems but also the development of specialised and high value biotech crops to achieve economic viability. Although traditional breeding methods have been used successfully to modify the fatty acid composition of oils, metabolic engineering provides a more rapid and direct method for manipulating plant lipid composition. Recent advances in our understanding of the biochemical mechanisms of seed oil biogenesis and the cloning of genes involved in fatty acid and oil metabolic pathways, have allowed the generation of oilseed crops that produce 'designer oils' tailored for specific applications and the conversion of high biomass crops into novel oleaginous crops. However, improvement of complex quantitative agronomic and seed traits remains more challenging as the underlying genetic determinants are still poorly understood. Technological advances in sequencing and computing have allowed the development of association genetics methods applicable to crops with complex genomes. Associative transcriptomics approaches and high throughput lipidomic profiling can be used to identify the genetic components controlling quantitative variation for lipid-related traits in polyploid crops (like oilseed rape) and provide molecular tools for marker assisted breeding. Examples of traits with potential for bio-refining that can be harvested as co-products in both seeds and vegetative biomass will be presented. Taken together, progress in plant biotechnology has now made possible the development of multipurpose crops displaying optimised traits for both primary and secondary products. Integrated utilisation of whole oil crops will grow in importance providing renewable resources for health, food and nutrition but also green alternatives for manufacturing and energy production. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://www.eurofedlipid.org/meetings/archive/florence2015/ |
Description | Invited Lecture - 9th European Symposium on Plant Lipids, Marseille |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | 9th European Symposium on Plant Lipids - Marseille : Associative transcriptomic approach to improving the Value of co-products in oilseed rape |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://veranstaltungen.gdch.de/tms/frontend/index.cfm?l=8858&sp_id=1 |
Description | Invited Lecture, Oil Crops Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Lecture title: Oilseed crops as integrated production platforms for food, feed, fuel and renewable industrial feedstock |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Invited lecture, Institute of Life Sciences Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Lecture title: Oilseed crops as integrated production platforms for food, feed, fuel and renewable industrial feedstock. 1 h lecture Including a presentation of ther power of Associative transcriptomics for improving the value of co-products in oilseed rape (B. napus). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Invited lecture, Workshop on Integrative Plant Biology Wuhan, China |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Huazhong (HZAU) - University of Nebraska Lincoln (UNL) Joint workshop on Integrative Plant Biology: Innovations in Crop Improvement to Meet the Global Grand Challenges of the 21st Century. September 2016 Lecture title: Associative transcriptomic approach to improving the value of co-products in oilseed rape (B. napus). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Invited talk (Abu Dhabi) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Talk on Associative Transcriptomics for gene discovery presented in Khalifa Centre, Abu Dhabi 19/10/15 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Invited talk (Ludhiana) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Talk on Associative Transcriptomics and visualization of genome structural evolution in Brassica oilseed crops at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India 27/4/16 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Invited talk (New Delhi - NRCPB) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Talk on Associative Transcriptomics and visualization of genome structural evolution in Brassica oilseed crops at National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology, New Delhi, India 28/4/16 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Invited talk (New Delhi - UDSC) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Talk on Associative Transcriptomics and visualization of genome structural evolution in Brassica oilseed crops at University of Delhi South Campus, New Delhi, India 29/4/16 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Invited talk (Wuhan) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Talk on Visualizing genome structural evolution in Brassica oilseed crops given in Oil Crops Research Institute, Wuhan, China 6/4/16 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Keynote lecture - 17th EuroFed Lipid Congress in Seville |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Invited lecture: New insights in the composition of wax and sterol esters in seed oils revealed by ESI-MS/MS |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | http://www.eurofedlipid.org/pages/sevilla |
Description | Talk on relating genome and trait variation in polyploid crops |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Developing collaborations for future research proposals |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | White PJ (2016) Bread and potatoes and brassicas - Delivering mineral nutrients for human health. LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) Technical Event, Balruddery Farm, The James Hutton Institute, 9th June 2016. [Poster, Presentation] |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Talk and poster at technical event |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |