Plant & Animal Genomes XVII Conference

January 10-14, 2009
Town & Country Convention Center
San Diego, CA

Beyond Brassica rapa: Facilitating Brassica Research Through Whole Genome Sequencing

Isobel Parkin¹ , Faouzi Bekkaoui² , Matthew Links¹ , Jacek Nowak² , Rob Wood¹ , Carrie Gilkinson² , Andrew Sharpe²

¹  Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Saskatoon Research Centre, 107 Science Place, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 0X2, Canada.

²  NRC-Plant Biotechnology Institute, 110 Gymnasium Place, Saskatoon, SK S7N 0W9, Canada.

Canola (Brassica napus) currently contributes over $11 billion in economic activity to the Canadian economy. The value of canola and other related Brassica species is expected to grow due to the increasing demand for food, feed and bio-products applications. Brassica napus, an amphidiploid formed from the fusion of diploids B. rapa (A genome) and B. oleracea (C genome) has a large, highly duplicated genome that presents problems for marker development, accurate genetic mapping and map-based gene cloning. Comparative genetics and genomics between related species can not only uncover rates of genome/gene evolution but can facilitate targeted marker generation and identification of candidate genes for important agronomic traits. Initially comparative analyses within the Brassicaceae focused on the model Arabidopsis thaliana; however, the multinational efforts to sequence the A genome promises a closer and more effective model for research in related Brassica species. Canada recently joined the multinational consortium to sequence the genome of Brassica rapa, employing a combined 454 next generation, Sanger sequencing strategy. An update will be provided for the Canadian efforts to sequence linkage groups A2 and A10 and the potential that this sequence holds for furthering Brassica crop improvement.