Analysis of gaps in rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) collections in European genebanks.

Rapeseed is one of the most important agricultural crops and is used in many ways. Due to the advancing climate crisis, the yield potential of rapeseed is increasingly impaired. In addition to changing environmental conditions, the expansion of cultivated areas also favours the infestation of rapeseed with various pests and pathogens. This results in the need for continuous further development of rapeseed varieties. To this end, the potential of the rapeseed gene pool should be exploited, as the various species included in it contain promising resistance alleles against pests and pathogens. In general, the biodiversity of crops and their wild relatives is increasingly endangered. In order to conserve them and to provide impulses for breeding activities as well, strategies for the conservation of plant genetic resources are necessary. In this study, we investigated to what extent the different species of the rapeseed gene pool are conserved in European genebanks and what gaps exist. In addition, a niche modelling approach was used to investigate how the natural distribution ranges of these species are expected to change by the end of the century, assuming different climate change scenarios. It was found that most species of the rapeseed gene pool are significantly underrepresented in European genebanks, especially regarding representation of the natural distribution areas. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that the natural distributions are expected to change, in some cases significantly, as a result of ongoing climate change. It is therefore necessary to further develop strategies to prevent the loss of wild relatives of rapeseed. Based on the results of the study, as a first step we have proposed a priority list of species that should be targeted for collecting in order to conserve the biodiversity of the rapeseed gene pool in the long term.

SolRgene: an online database to explore disease resistance genes in tuber-bearing Solanum species.

BACKGROUND: The cultivated potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is an important food crop, but highly susceptible to many pathogens. The major threat to potato production is the Irish famine pathogen Phytophthora infestans, which causes the devastating late blight disease. Potato breeding makes use of germplasm from wild relatives (wild germplasm) to introduce resistances into cultivated potato. The Solanum section Petota comprises tuber-bearing species that are potential donors of new disease resistance genes. The aim of this study was to explore Solanum section Petota for resistance genes and generate a widely accessible resource that is useful for studying and implementing disease resistance in potato. DESCRIPTION: The SolRgene database contains data on resistance to P. infestans and presence of R genes and R gene homologues in Solanum section Petota. We have explored Solanum section Petota for resistance to late blight in high throughput disease tests under various laboratory conditions and in field trials. From resistant wild germplasm, segregating populations were generated and assessed for the presence of resistance genes. All these data have been entered into the SolRgene database. To facilitate genetic and resistance gene evolution studies, phylogenetic data of the entire SolRgene collection are included, as well as a tool for generating phylogenetic trees of selected groups of germplasm. Data from resistance gene allele-mining studies are incorporated, which enables detection of R gene homologs in related germplasm. Using these resources, various resistance genes have been detected and some of these have been cloned, whereas others are in the cloning pipeline. All this information is stored in the online SolRgene database, which allows users to query resistance data, sequences, passport data of the accessions, and phylogenic classifications. CONCLUSION: Solanum section Petota forms the basis of the SolRgene database, which contains a collection of resistance data of an unprecedented size and precision. Complemented with R gene sequence data and phylogenetic tools, SolRgene can be considered the primary resource for information on R genes from potato and wild tuber-bearing relatives.

Diversity, distribution, and evolution of Solanum bulbocastanum late blight resistance genes.

Knowledge on the evolution and distribution of late blight resistance genes is important for a better understanding of the dynamics of these genes in nature. We analyzed the presence and allelic diversity of the late blight resistance genes Rpi-blb1, Rpi-blb2, and Rpi-blb3, originating from Solanum bulbocastanum, in a set of tuber-bearing Solanum species comprising 196 different taxa. The three genes were only present in some Mexican diploid as well as polyploid species closely related to S. bulbocastanum. Sequence analysis of the fragments obtained from the Rpi-blb1 and Rpi-blb3 genes suggests an evolution through recombinations and point mutations. For Rpi-blb2, only sequences identical to the cloned gene were found in S. bulbocastanum accessions, suggesting that it has emerged recently. The three resistance genes occurred in different combinations and frequencies in S. bulbocastanum accessions and their spread is confined to Central America. A selected set of genotypes was tested for their response to the avirulence effectors IPIO-2, Avr-blb2, and Pi-Avr2, which interact with Rpi-blb1, Rpi-blb2, and Rpi-blb3, respectively, as well as by disease assays with a diverse set of isolates. Using this approach, some accessions could be identified that contain novel, as yet unknown, late blight resistance factors in addition to the Rpi-blb1, Rpi-blb2, and Rpi-blb3 genes.

AFLP analysis reveals a lack of phylogenetic structure within Solanum section Petota.

BACKGROUND: The secondary genepool of our modern cultivated potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) consists of a large number of tuber-bearing wild Solanum species under Solanum section Petota. One of the major taxonomic problems in section Petota is that the series classification (as put forward by Hawkes) is problematic and the boundaries of some series are unclear. In addition, the classification has received only partial cladistic support in all molecular studies carried out to date. The aim of the present study is to describe the structure present in section Petota. When possible, at least 5 accessions from each available species and 5 individual plants per accession (totally approx. 5000 plants) were genotyped using over 200 AFLP markers. This resulted in the largest dataset ever constructed for Solanum section Petota. The data obtained are used to evaluate the 21 series hypothesis put forward by Hawkes and the 4 clade hypothesis of Spooner and co-workers. RESULTS: We constructed a NJ tree for 4929 genotypes. For the other analyses, due to practical reasons, a condensed dataset was created consisting of one representative genotype from each available accession. We show a NJ jackknife and a MP jackknife tree. A large part of both trees consists of a polytomy. Some structure is still visible in both trees, supported by jackknife values above 69. We use these branches with >69 jackknife support in the NJ jackknife tree as a basis for informal species groups. The informal species groups recognized are: Mexican diploids, Acaulia, Iopetala, Longipedicellata, polyploid Conicibaccata, diploid Conicibaccata, Circaeifolia, diploid Piurana and tetraploid Piurana. CONCLUSION: Most of the series that Hawkes and his predecessors designated can not be accepted as natural groups, based on our study. Neither do we find proof for the 4 clades proposed by Spooner and co-workers. A few species groups have high support and their inner structure displays also supported subdivisions, while a large part of the species cannot be structured at all. We believe that the lack of structure is not due to any methodological problem but represents the real biological situation within section Petota.