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EPSPS is coded with the aroA gene, a key enzyme that catalyzes the penultimate step of shikimate pathway. The current study focuses on the suppression of aroA gene in weedy Brassica rapa. For this purpose B. rapa was transformed with double-stranded RNA interference construct designed to silence aroA gene. This developed in a significant decline in EPSPS (about 72 %) in T0 and T1 plants. In order to study the gene flow, the B. rapa control and B. napus plants were pollinated with T0 B. rapa. Results showed that in the next generation of challenging plants, the pollinated normal B. rapa showed the T1 symptoms and performance. Statistical analysis of data showed that knocking down of aroA will lead to a weakness and decreasing in investigated morphological, physiological and phonological characteristics. Meanwhile pollinated B. napus plant species have been not fertilized by T0 B. rapa. To conclude current result is the first evidence of aroA gene inhibition induces a high decrease in EPSPS protein in B. rapa. Also this result provides a basis for the future investigation in order to controlling B. rapa via molecular approach along with agronomical, biological and chemical methods regarding environmental considerations.

Ascorbate is an antioxidant and a cofactor of many dioxygenases in plant and animal cell metabolism. A well-recognized enzyme consuming ascorbate is ascorbate peroxidase (APX), which catalyses the reduction of hydrogen peroxide to water with the simultaneous oxidation of ascorbate with a high specificity. The isolation and characterisation of new Apx cDNAs, could provide new insights about the physiological roles and regulation of these enzymes. In this work chloroplastic (Br-chlApx) and cytosolic (Br-cApx) isoform transcripts were isolated by RT-PCR in Brassica rapa and expression changes were analysed by semi-quantitative RT-PCR performed in different tissues (layer, stalk and florets) at different days (0, 4 and 14 day). The result showed that BrApx isoforms were differentially expressed and the Br-chlApx, in particular in the layer, had the highest expression level and remained unchanged also after 14 day after harvest. In addition, expression changes were compared with total BrAPX activity and the results showed that the activity decreased in all tissues at 14 day after harvest, independently of transcripts. Finally, additional solutes as the substrate of APX ascorbate and its oxidized form, dehydroascorbate, as well as α-tocopherol, the major vitamin E compound that prevents the propagation of lipid peroxidation in thylakoid membranes, were followed. The changes in the BrApx expression, BrAPX activity and metabolites can provide further evidence of the close relationships that exist between antioxidants which compensate for each other and suggest that there are multiple sites of reciprocal control.

Dicer-like proteins (DCLs) are involved in small RNA-mediated development and viral defense in plants. In model plants, at least four DCLs have been found and a number of studies have helped to understand their function. However, the function of the Dicer or DCLs in other plants is still unclear. Here, we report the full-length cDNA sequence of Brassica rapa ssp. chinensis DCL2 (BrDCL2) gene, which contains a 4,179 bp open reading frame (ORF) encoding a protein of 1,392 amino acids. At the 3' end of BrDCL2, clones with three different lengths of 3' untranslated region were found. An alternative splice variant of BrDCL2, BrDCL2sv, in which one intron was retained between exon9 and exon10, was also cloned. Because of a change in the coding sequence resulting in a premature terminal codon, BrDCL2sv was expected to translate a short peptide containing the whole DEXHc domain.