Phenylpropanstoffwechsel

Increasing the meal and protein quality of winter rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) for food and feed purposes is gaining importance in rapeseed breeding programmes. Rapeseed meal has a high content of phenolic acid esters, mainly sinapate esters, which have been shown to cause a dark colour and a bitter taste in rapeseed meal and derived protein products. The aim of the present study was to analyse the genetic variation for individual and total sinapate ester content, to develop Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopic (NIRS) calibrations, and to identify genotypes with a low sinapate ester content after testing in the field. The following sinapate esters were analysed by HPLC: sinapoylcholine (sinapine), sinapoylglucose, and a minor group of ‘other sinapate esters’ which includes free sinapate. A genotypically diverse set of seed samples of winter oilseed rape (old and new cultivars, breeding lines, resynthesized rapeseed) from different years and locations was collected, their NIRS spectra recorded and the samples were further analysed by HPLC. The complete NIRS calibration seed sample set (n = 575) showed a large variation in total sinapate ester content, ranging from 3.2 to 12.7 mg sinapate equivalents per g seeds. The NIRS calibration equations showed high fractions of explained variances in cross validation () ranging from 0.75 (other sinapate esters) to 0.85 (sinapoylglucose). The standard errors of cross validation (SECV) ranged from 0.38 (other sinapate esters) to 0.70 mg/g seed (total sinapate esters). In validation and in independent validations the predicted results were not always acceptable, indicating that the NIRS calibrations need to be extended by analysing samples from new populations. Following replicated field experiments, a doubled haploid line obtained from the old Dutch cultivar Mansholts’ Hamburger Raps, and related DH lines from the cross DH Mansholts’ × Express were confirmed to have a 30–40% lower sinapate ester content compared to check cultivars.

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This study describes a systematic screen for secondary product UDP-glycosyltransferases (UGTs; EC 2.4.1) involved in seed development of oilseed rape (Brassica napus) and was aimed at identifying genes related to UGT84A9 encoding UDP-glucose:sinapate glucosyltransferase (EC 2.4.1.120), a proven target for molecular breeding approaches to reduce the content of anti-nutritive sinapate esters. By RT-PCR with primers recognizing the conserved signature motif of UGTs, 13 distinct ESTs could be generated from seed RNA. Sequence analysis allowed to assign the isolated ESTs to groups B, D, E, and L of the UGT family. In an alternative approach, two open reading frames related to UGT84A9 were cloned from the B. napus genome and designated as UGT84A10 and UGT84A11, respectively. Functional expression of UGT84A10 revealed that the encoded enzyme catalyzes the formation of 1-O-acylglucosides (β-acetal esters) with several hydroxycinnamates whereas, in our hands, the recombinant UGT84A11 did not display this enzymatic activity. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR confirmed that the majority of potential UGTs specified by the isolated ESTs is differentially expressed. A pronounced transcriptional up-regulation during seed development was evident for UGT84A9 and one EST (BnGT3) clustering in group E of UGTs. UGT84A10 was highly induced in flowers and expressed to a moderate level in late seed maturation indicating a possible involvement in seed-specific sinapate ester biosynthesis.