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Glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase (GPAT) genes encode enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of plant oils. Rapeseed has four BnGPAT9 genes, but the expression patterns and functions of these four homologous copies in rapeseed for seed oil accumulation are not well understood. In this study, we cloned the four BnGPAT9 genes and their promoters from Brassica napus and found significant differences in the expression of BnGPAT9 genes among different rapeseed varieties. We confirmed that BnGPAT9-A01/C01 are highly conserved in rapeseed, with high expression levels in various tissues, especially during the late stages of silique development and seed maturation. All four BnGPAT9 genes (BnGPAT9-A01/C01/A10/C09) can promote seed oil accumulation, but BnGPAT9-A01/C01 have a greater effect. Overexpression in Arabidopsis and rapeseed increased seed oil content and altered fatty acid composition, significantly increasing linolenic acid content. Transcriptome analysis revealed that BnGPAT9 genes promote the upregulation of genes related to oil synthesis, particularly those in the Plant–pathogen interaction, alpha-Linolenic acid metabolism, MAPK signaling pathway—plant, and Glutathione metabolism pathways. In summary, these results indicate that the four BnGPAT9 genes in rapeseed have different expression patterns and roles in regulating seed oil accumulation, with BnGPAT9-A01/C01 contributing the most to promoting oil accumulation.

High oleic acid rapeseed oil offers superior nutritional and health benefits, but its mass production is limited due to poor resistance and slightly lower yield. Photosynthesis serves as the foundation of biological survival and closely correlates with crop resistance to stresses, yield, and quality. To identify photosynthesis-related genes, transcriptome sequencing was conducted on high oleic acid rapeseed Gaoyousuan No. 1 and low oleic acid rapeseed Xiangyou 15 resulting in the identification of a total of 9396 differentially expressed genes (4669 up-regulated and 4727 down-regulated). From these genes nine candidate genes were screened using GO and KEGG analysis with BnGLO4 being selected for cloning purposes. The BnGLO4 gene fragment has a length of 1161 bp with an ORF sequence of 1092 bp encoding a theoretical isoelectric point of pI 7.60; it encodes an unstable lipid-soluble protein localized in peroxisomes without transmembrane structural domains or signal peptides. Its amino acid sequence homology was highest with that of BnaA01G0355200ZS, BnaA01G0355600ZS, BnaA05G0410400ZS, BnaC01G0441800ZS, and Brassica rapa (XP_0091171 45.1), Brassica napus (CDY39100.1), Brassica cretica (KAF3533604.1) and Brassica oleracea var. oleracea (XP_0136106 44.1) belonging to the same cruciferous family.The BnGLO4 gene may be associated with responses to abiotic stresses such as salt, drought, and temperature extremes along with photosynthesis and growth in rapeseed plants. The expression levels of the GLO4 gene (BnaA01G0355200 ZS) were highest in filaments while being higher at each stage in seeds and siliques with the highest expression level at day 14 in seeds. Expression was significantly upregulated after 3 ​h of salt stress treatment, reaching a maximum at 12 ​h before slightly decreasing at 24 ​h. The findings of this study lay a foundation for further investigation on photosynthesis and stress response in high oleic rapeseed.

Flower color, an important rapeseed character, has great practical value and research significance. It has become an area of intensive research in recent years. This paper summarizes the latest research progress on rape flower color in terms of variety, source, pigment composition, formation mechanism, and omics. Moreover, it provides an overview of rape flower color breeding and omics.

Cytoplasmic male sterile system (CMS) is one of the important methods for the utilization of heterosisin Brassica napus. The involvement of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in anther and pollen development in B.napus has been recognized, but there is little data on the involvement of lncRNAs in pollen abortion in different types of rapeseed CMS. The present study compared the cytological, physiological and biochemical characteristics of Nsa CMS (1258A) and Pol CMS (P5A) during pollen abortion, and high-throughput sequencing of flower buds of different sizes before and after pollen abortion. The results showed that insufficient energy supply was an important physiological basis for 1258A and P5A pollen abortion, and 1258A had excessive ROS (reactive oxygen species) accumulation in the stage of pollen abortion. Functional analysis showed that Starch and sucrose metabolism and Sulfur metabolism were significantly enriched before and after pollen abortion in 1258A and P5A, and a large number of genes were down-regulated. In 1258A, 227 lncRNAs had cis-targeting regulation, and 240 cis-target genes of the lncRNAs were identified. In P5A, 116 lncRNAs had cis-targeting regulation, and 101 cis-target genes of the lncRNAs were identified. There were five lncRNAs cis-target genes in 1258A and P5A during pollen abortion, and LOC106445716 encodes β-D-glucopyranosyl abscisate β-glucosidase and could regulate pollen abortion. Taken together, this study, provides a new perspective for lncRNAs to participate in the regulation of Nsa CMS and Pol CMS pollen abortion.

Gene editing technology provides important technical basics for the research in plant functional genes and crop genetic improvement. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing is an effective experimental tool for crop genome directed editing in recent years, which has been widely used in many crops as rice, wheat and other crops. CRISPR/Cas9 system was expected to be a powerful experimental tool in genetic improvement and molecular design breeding of rapeseed. This paper, which based on the development history and the latest research of CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing technology in rapeseed, summarized the progress of CRISPR/Cas9 including plant type improvement, yield traits, quality improvement, disease and stress resistance improvement, yellow seed creation and other utilizes at present. The application scope, development direction and target analysis method of this technology in rape were focused. The problems of CRISPR/cas9 system in rapeseed breeding were analyzed and the improvement strategies were discussed. Finally, views on direction of rapeseed breeding by gene editing were emphasized.