Fatty acid inheritance in microspore-derived Populations of spring rapeseed (Brassica napus L.).

The inheritance of major fatty acids in seed triglycerides was studied in three homozygous microspore-derived populations of spring rapeseed (Brassica napus L.). Crosses were made among parents with contrasting amounts of erucic, oleic, linoleic and linolenic acids. Microspores from F1 plants were cultured, and haploid plants were colchicine-doubled to provide homozygous populations reflecting F1 gametic arrays for fatty acid genotypes. Segregation ratios of the gametic arrays for specific fatty acid contents were compared to hypothetical models by the Chi-square test. Segregation pattern confirmed that erucic acid levels were controlled by two major loci, each having two alleles with additive effects. Oleic acid segregation indicated control of accumulation by at least two segregating genetic systems, one acting on chain elongation and the other involving desaturation. Accumulations of erucic acid and oleic acid were influenced by the same two loci, which control the chain elongation steps leading from oleic acid to erucic acid. Oleic acid was further influenced by at least two additional segregating loci involved in control of desaturation of oleic acid to form linoleic acid. Segregating alleles at loci involved in desaturation had a much smaller influence on oleic acid content than alleles segregating at loci controlling, the elongation of oleic acid to erucic acid. In a population free of erucic acid, the segregation pattern of linoleic acid levels fit a model involving segregating alleles at two loci. In contrast, segregation for linolenic acid content fits a three-locus additive model. In this study, microspore culture technology provided a rapid method of defining F1 gametic segregation for inheritance analyses.