Genome-Wide Association Study of Phenylalanine Derived Glucosinolates in Brassica rapa.

Glucosinolates (GSLs) are sulfur-containing bioactive compounds usually present in Brassicaceae plants and are usually responsible for a pungent flavor and reduction of the nutritional values of seeds. Therefore, breeding rapeseed varieties with low GSL levels is an important breeding objective. Most GSLs in Brassica rapa are derived from methionine or tryptophan, but two are derived from phenylalanine, one directly (benzylGSL) and one after a round of chain elongation (phenethylGSL). In the present study, two phenylalanine (Phe)-derived GSLs (benzylGSL and phenethylGSL) were identified and quantified in seeds by liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis. Levels of benzylGSL were low but differed among investigated low and high GSL genotypes. Levels of phenethylGSL (also known as 2-phenylethylGSL) were high but did not differ among GSL genotypes. Subsequently, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted using 159 B. rapa accessions to demarcate candidate regions underlying 43 and 59 QTNs associated with benzylGSL and phenethylGSL that were distributed on 10 chromosomes and 9 scaffolds, explaining 0.56% to 70.86% of phenotypic variations, respectively. Furthermore, we find that 15 and 18 known or novel candidate genes were identified for the biosynthesis of benzylGSL and phenethylGSL, including known regulators of GSL biosynthesis, such as BrMYB34, BrMYB51, BrMYB28, BrMYB29 and BrMYB122, and novel regulators or structural genes, such as BrMYB44/BrMYB77 and BrMYB60 for benzylGSL and BrCYP79B2 for phenethylGSL. Finally, we investigate the expression profiles of the biosynthetic genes for two Phe-derived GSLs by transcriptomic analysis. Our findings provide new insight into the complex machinery of Phe-derived GSLs in seeds of B. rapa and help to improve the quality of Brassicaceae plant breeding.

Enantiodifferentiating photoisomerization of cyclooctene included and sensitized by aroyl-beta-cyclodextrins: a critical enantioselectivity control by substituents.

A series of 6-O-benzoyl-beta-cyclodextrins (CDs) with methyl, methoxy, methoxycarbonyl, and bromo substituent(s) at the ortho-, meta-, and/or para-position(s) were synthesized as chiral sensitizing hosts for the use in supramolecular enantiodifferentiating photoisomerization of (Z)-cyclooctene (1Z) to its chiral (E)-isomer (1E). The complex stability constants (K(S)) of the modified beta-CDs with 1Z in aqueous methanol solutions were highly sensitive to the substituent(s) introduced to the benzoate moiety, and the log K(S) values decreased linearly with slightly different slopes with increasing methanol content. The enantiomeric excess (ee) of 1E obtained upon photosensitization with these hosts was a critical function of the size and position of the substituent, varying from almost zero to 46% ee. This indicates that even an apparently small structural difference between methyl and methoxy can critically affect the enantiodifferentiating photoisomerization of a guest included in the chiral cavity, probably through manipulation of both the orientation of ground-state 1Z and the subsequent rotational relaxation of excited 1Z inside the chiral cavity.