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In the attempt to elucidate the molecular mechanism of CMS. Ogura cytoplasmic male sterile (OguCMS) lines were obtained in Chinese cabbage after interspecific hybridization between Brassica. napus L. OguCMS and B. campestris ssp. chinensis followed by recurrent backcross with B. campestris ssp. chinensis as the pollen donor. The CMS lines were significantly characterized by the whitish anther and indehiscence of anther. The tapetal hypertrophy with excess vacuola-tion was the first observed defective soon after the tetrad stage, subsequently the microspores defected in pollen wall forma-tion, and later the cytoplasm detached from the exine wall and underwent degeneration. With aid of cDNA-AFLP and RACE approaches, we cloned the BcMYBogu(GenBank accession No: EF127861) in Chinese cabbage, which is premature expressed in early and middle stage floral buds of OguCMS lines, and predicted to encode a novel protein with a DNA binding domain: SH[AL]QKY[RF] motif at the N-terminus. Phylogenetic comparison revealed that the BcMYBogu was clustered with AtMYB32, AtMYB26 and AtMYB4, which were indicated to be involved in male sterility in Arabidopsis thaliana. The BcMYBogu transcript was detected in rosette leaves, floral buds and stems by RT-PCR analysis. Compared with the maintainer, the expression level of BcMYBogu was increased in these organs, especially in floral buds of OguCMS lines. Our investigation suggests that BcMYBogu is a new member of the MYB family involved in male sterility in Chinese cabbage.

S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase activity (SAMDC) is a key enzyme involved in biosynthesis of the polyamines, viz. spermidine and spermine. In the present study, SAMDC gene analogues from 14 species of 6 genera in Cruciferae were obtained by PCR strategy using specific primers designed from conserved regions of SAMDC gene reported in the GenBank. The phylogenetic relationships of these species belonging to the family Cruciferae were investigated through comparison of the genes. Homologous sequences of SAMDC comparison indicated that the similarities among the genes at nucleotide and amino acid levels were over 87% and 90%, respectively. The differences in genes at nucleotide and amino acid levels between species ranged from 0.2 % to 10.1 % and 0.3% to 6.6%, respectively, while those between genera except Raphanus were 4.9 % to 13.6 % and 3.1 % to 10.3%, respectively. The differences of sequences of nucleotides and amino acids among genera were higher than those among species, and the differences of nucleotides sequences were higher than those of amino acids. The phylogenetic tree was thus constructed based on the alignment nucleotides sequences from Nei's genetic distances. The neighbor-joining (NJ) and minimum-evolution (ME) trees showed that Brassica was closely related to Raphanus, followed by Barbarea, Roripl Scop and Arabidopsis Heynh, but was remotely related to Capsella Medic. This research elucidated the relationship among crucifer species at nucleotide level, which could proved some help for the utilization of plant germplasms.

The BcMF4 (Brassica campestris Male Fertility 4) gene was previously isolated from the fertile B line of Chinese cabbage-pak-choi (Brassica campestris ssp. chinensis var. communis, syn. B. rapa ssp. chinensis var. communis). In the present paper, based on the cDNA sequence of BcMF4, primers were designed and used to amplify two fragments from the cDNA of flower buds of Chinese cabbage-pak-choi. Two produced fragments were introduced separately into binary vector pBI121 in antisense and sense orientations. The generated RNA interference (RNAi) vector was then mobilized into Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain LBA4404. The A. tumefaciens harboring the BcMF4 fragments was transformed to flowering Chinese cabbage (B. campestris ssp. chinensis var. parachinensis) via tissue culture. Approximately 45.8% of the pollen grains from 72.2% of RNAi plants exhibited abnormal in their shapes, and only 23.7% of the pollen grains from these plants germinated normally. Northern blotting demonstrated that the phenotypic change of pollen grains resulted from the inhibition of expression of the BcMF4 due to the insertion of the transgene. This indicates that functional interrupting of BcMF4 by RNAi resulted in partial pollen abortion in flowering Chinese cabbage, suggesting that the product of BcMF4 gene plays an important role during pollen development of Chinese cabbage such as Chinese cabbage-pak-choi and flowering Chinese cabbage.

Among the 20000 independent Arabidopsis activation tagging lines, we screened a novel mutant with high-salinity and drought tolerance, namely sdt1 (high-salinity and drought tolerant 1). sdt1 kept normal growth under drought stress by consecutively withholding water for 26d, while all the wild type wilted to death. Furthermore, the same result was repeated under high-salinity stress when sdtl and wild type were treated with 150 mmol/L NaCl. Seeds germination test on the medium indicated that the response of sdt1 to endogenous or exogenous ABA was reduced as compared with wild type. Under drought stress conditions the rates of water loss of sdt1 rosette leaves were significantly lower than that of wild type. Southern hybridization of sdt1 and the result of high-salinity tolerance genetic analysis showed that two copies of T-DNA were inserted into the two linking sites by shoulder to shoulder.

Activation tagging is an important strategy in plant genomics by generating gain-of-function mutants. In this work, a library of Arabidopsis mutants was constructed by in planta transformation mediated by Agrobacterium tumefaciens containing an activation tagging vector pSKI015 with herbicide Basta as a selection marker (Fig. 1). Among 20000 independent transformants, 38 lines, i.e. about 0.2% of T(1) progeny, show visible morphological phenotypic variations (Fig. 2). Results of Southern blot analysis revealed that most of the transformants have more than three copies of T-DNA insertion (Fig. 3). Plasmid rescue and TAIL-PCR were used to recover the flanking genomic sequences of mutated target genes as the first step towards mutant gene cloning (Fig. 4, 5).

In order to direct the construction of plant germplasms by elucidating the relatives among plants at the level of gene, CYP86MF gene analogues from 11 species of 6 genera in Cuciferae were respectively obtained by PCR strategy using gene specific primers designed from conserved regions of CYP86MF gene reported. Sequence comparisonindicated that the similarities among the genes at nucleotide level were over 80%, and the similarities at amino acid level remained above 70%. The differences between the genes at nucleotide and amino acid level between species were 1.0% ~ 5.7% and 2.6% ~ 7.3% respectively, while those between genera 5.6% ~ 22.5% and 7.3% ~ 31.2%, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis showed that Brassica was closely related to Raphanus, followed by Rorippa Scop, Arabidopsis Heynh, Capsella Medic orderly, most distantly related to Orychophrogmus. It was concluded that CYP86MF gene was not applicable to specie and subspecie taxon but genus taxon because the differences of sequences in nucleotides and amino acids were lower between species than genera.

Crosses between female parent of Ogura male sterility Brassica napus L. and male parents of B. campestris ssp. chinensis Makino were made and F(1), BC(1) and BC(2) generations produced. Gene expression of two Chinese cabbage backcross hybrid BC(1), BC(2) and their parents at bud stage was analyzed by means of cDNA-AFLP technique. The results indicated that the patterns of gene expression differ significantly between BC(1) and BC(2) generations and their parents. There were many patterns of gene expression, including gene overexpression and gene silencing. Five patterns (seven kinds) of gene expression were observed, which include: (1) bands occurring in only one parent (two kinds); (2) bands observed in hybrids and one parent (two kinds); (3) bands occurring in only parents (one kind); (4) bands visualized in only hybrids (one kind); (5) bands observed in parents and hybrids (one kind). In accompany with the addition of backcross, the increase trend in backcross hybrids and their parents were described in the aspects of differential gene expression, bands expressed only in one parent and bands expressed only in both parents. The declined trend in backcross hybrids and their parents were observed in the aspects of bands expressed in both hybrids and one parent (two kinds), bands visualized in only hybrids and bands observed in parents and hybrid. Fifteen patterns of gene expression were observed in F(1)bBC(1)bBC(2) and backcross parents. The percent of bands expressed in F(1)bBC(1)bBC(2) and backcross was highest.

An efficient plant regeneration system from explants of petiole with cotyledon was developed for Chinese cabbage (Brassica campestris ssp. chinensis Makino) in our study. High frequency of shoot regeneration was obtained in the medium containing BAP 2 mg/L, NAA 0.45 mg/L and 5-7.5 mg/L AgNO3 solution to the half of NH4+ concentration's MS basic medium, with 84.3 percent being the highest frequency of shoot regeneration in seven Chinese cabbage cultivars and one parentage, and the new formed shoots were observed six days after inoculation. Factors influencing in vitro explant regeneration were further studied. The results showed that there was positive correlation between frequency of shoot regeneration and number of shoots per explant. The regeneration plants produced flowers and fruits after about 50 days with low temperature treatment from 8 degrees C to 16 degrees C. Moreover, histological observation indicated that the mode of plant regeneration in B. campestris ssp. chinensis was similar to that of other Brassica crops, and adventitions buds were formed from globular meristematic cluster which derived from the cells of vascular parenchyma at the cut surface of petiole.