Global Survey and Expressions of the Phosphate Transporter Gene Families in Brassica napus and Their Roles in Phosphorus Response.

Phosphate (Pi) transporters play critical roles in Pi acquisition and homeostasis. However, currently little is known about these genes in oil crops. In this study, we aimed to characterize the five Pi transporter gene families (PHT1-5) in allotetraploid Brassica napus. We identified and characterized 81 putative PHT genes in B. napus (BnaPHTs), including 45 genes in PHT1 family (BnaPHT1s), four BnaPHT2s, 10 BnaPHT3s, 13 BnaPHT4s and nine BnaPHT5s. Phylogenetic analyses showed that the largest PHT1 family could be divided into two groups (Group I and II), while PHT4 may be classified into five, Groups I-V. Gene structure analysis revealed that the exon-intron pattern was conservative within the same family or group. The sequence characteristics of these five families were quite different, which may contribute to their functional divergence. Transcription factor (TF) binding network analyses identified many potential TF binding sites in the promoter regions of candidates, implying their possible regulating patterns. Collinearity analysis demonstrated that most BnaPHTs were derived from an allopolyploidization event (~40.7%) between Brassica rapa and Brassica oleracea ancestors, and small-scale segmental duplication events (~39.5%) in the descendant. RNA-Seq analyses proved that many BnaPHTs were preferentially expressed in leaf and flower tissues. The expression profiles of most colinearity-pairs in B. napus are highly correlated, implying functional redundancy, while a few pairs may have undergone neo-functionalization or sub-functionalization during evolution. The expression levels of many BnaPHTs tend to be up-regulated by different hormones inductions, especially for IAA, ABA and 6-BA treatments. qRT-PCR assay demonstrated that six BnaPHT1s (BnaPHT1.11, BnaPHT1.14, BnaPHT1.20, BnaPHT1.35, BnaPHT1.41, BnaPHT1.44) were significantly up-regulated under low- and/or rich- Pi conditions in B. napus roots. This work analyzes the evolution and expression of the PHT family in Brassica napus, which will help further research on their role in Pi transport.

Identification and Characterization of Major Constituents in Different-Colored Rapeseed Petals by UPLC-HESI-MS/MS.

Oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) is the second highest yielding oil crop worldwide. In addition to being used as an edible oil and a feed for livestock, rapeseed has high ornamental value. In this study, we identified and characterized the main floral major constituents, including phenolic acids and flavonoids components, in rapeseed accessions with different-colored petals. A total of 144 constituents were identified using ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-HESI-mass spectrometry (UPLC-HESI-MS/MS), 57 of which were confirmed and quantified using known standards and mainly contained phenolic acids, flavonoids, and glucosinolates compounds. Most of the epicatechin, quercetin, and isorhamnetin derivates were found in red and pink petals of B. napus, while kaempferol derivates were in yellow and pale white petals. Moreover, petal-specific compounds, including a putative hydroxycinnamic acid derivative, sinapoyl malate, 1-O-sinapoyl-ß-d-glucose, feruloyl glucose, naringenin-7-O-glucoside, cyanidin-3-glucoside, cyanidin-3,5-di-O-glucoside, petunidin-3-O-ß-glucopyranoside, isorhamnetin-3-O-glucoside, kaempferol-3-O-glucoside-7-O-glucoside, quercetin-3,4'-O-di-ß-glucopyranoside, quercetin-3-O-glucoside, and delphinidin-3-O-glucoside, might contribute to a variety of petal colors in B. napus. In addition, bound phenolics were tentatively identified and contained three abundant compounds (p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, and 8-O-4'-diferulic acid). These results provide insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying petal color and suggest strategies for breeding rapeseed with a specific petal color in the future.

Cloning and characterization of phosphorus starvation inducible Brassica napus PURPLE ACID PHOSPHATASE 12 gene family, and imprinting of a recently evolved MITE-minisatellite twin structure.

Purple acid phosphatase (PAP) is important for phosphorus assimilation and in planta redistribution. In this study, seven Brassica napus PAP12 (BnPAP12) genes orthologous to Arabidopsis thaliana PAP12 (AtPAP12) are isolated and characterized. NCBI BLASTs, multi-alignments, conserved domain prediction, and featured motif/residue characterization indicate that all BnPAP12 members encode dimeric high molecular weight plant PAPs. BnPAP12-1, BnPAP12-2, BnPAP12-3 and BnPAP12-7 (Group I) have six introns and encode 469-aa polypeptides structurally comparable to AtPAP12. BnPAP12-4 and BnPAP12-6 (Group II) have seven introns and encode 526-aa PAP12s. Encoding a 475-aa polypeptide, BnPAP12-5 (Group III) is evolved from a chimera of 5' part of Group I and 3' part of Group II. Sequence characterization and Southern detection suggest that there are about five BnPAP12 alleles. Homoeologous non-allelic fragment exchanges exist among BnPAP12 genes. BnPAP12-4 and BnPAP12-6 are imprinted with a Tourist-like miniature inverted-repeat transposable element (MITE) which is tightly associated with a novel minisatellite composed of four 36-bp tandem repeats. Existing solely in B. rapa/oleracea lineage, this recently evolved MITE-minisatellite twin structure does not impair transcription and coding capacity of the imprinted genes, and could be used to identify close relatives of B. rapa/oleracea lineage within Brassica. It is also useful for studying MITE activities especially possible involvement in minisatellite formation and gene structure evolution. BnPAP12-6 is silent in transcription. All other BnPAP12 genes basically imitate AtPAP12 in tissue specificity and Pi-starvation induced expression pattern, but divergence and complementation are distinct among them. Alternative polyadenylation and intron retention also exist in BnPAP12 mRNAs.