Modulating Oil Content In Brassica Napus By Interfering With Transcription Factor AP2and The Synthesis Of Seed Storage Proteins

It is very important to improve oil content in Brassica napus L. as the world has a great demand for plant oil. The oil content in Brassica napus seed is controlled by quantitative trait loci, therefore it is difficult to improve with traditional breeding methods. The development of the modem genetic engineering makes it possible to produce transgenic rapeseed varieties with higher oil content in a short time.In this paper the strategy of RNAi was used to increase the oil content in rapeseed. It has been found that seed storage protein and oil content was negatively correlated since the fatty acid and protein synthesis require the same substrates, i.e., when there is more oil, the protein conetnt is decreased. In this thesis, a consctruct containging seed specific napin and cruciferin hpRNAi structure was introduced into rapeseed by using Agrobacteria-mediated transformation to inhibit the synthesis of seed storage proteins and to increase the oil content in B. napus.It was reported that AP2is a transcription factor that can negatively regulate the oil content. In this thesis a construct containging seed specific AP2-hpRNAi structure was introduced into rapseed by using Agrobacteria-mediated transformation to increase the oil content in B. napus. By using kanamycin selection we have produced kanamycin-resistant plantlets. Preliminary molecular studies indicated that these plantlets might be transgenic.