Epsilon Open Archive

Abstract

A growing world population and dwindling fossil oil reserves demand an increase in the world plant oil production. The possibility to increase the area of cultivated land is limited due to the shortage of arable land. Also, the possibility for increasing the oil content in the limited number of cultivated oil crops is restricted. New, high-yielding oil crops, which can be grown in areas where no other oil crops can grow and have less environmental impact, need to be developed. It is preferable that such new oil crops would allow us to tailor-make the oil composition in planta for food, fuel or industrial applications. In Sweden, the main oil crop cultivated is winter rapeseed, which, due to weak winter hardiness, only can be grown in southern Sweden. Developing a new winter-hardy oilseed crop would extend the plant oil production in Sweden and other cold climate regions. Lepidium campestre is a wild Brassica species. It is very winter hardy, high-yielding, has an upright stature and synchronous flowering. Moreover, it is biennial, and thus being suitable as a catch crop. However, it needs to be domesticated first so that it possesses all important agronomic traits necessary for being a successful agricultural crop.

The aim of this thesis was to improve some properties of L. campestre by genetic engineering with focus on: the seed oil content, pod shatter, seed oil composition and wax ester production in the seed oil. In order to enable genetic engineering of this wild species, a well-functioning regeneration and transformation protocol was first developed, which has greatly facilitated the subsequent genetic improvements of the target traits of the species. Through RNAi-down-regulation of the FAD2 and FAE1 genes, transgenic lines with oxidative stable oil high in oleic acid were generated, indicating the potential of the species for being used for food oil purposes. Moreover, transgenic lines with increased seed oil content were developed by expressing either the AtWRI1 or AtHb2 or BvHb2 gene. Transgenic lines with pod shatter resistance were produced by RNAi down-regulation of the IND gene. Wax esters were produced in this species by expression of the jojoba wax synthesis genes, showing the potential of the species as a new platform for industrial oil production. These transgenic lines are valuable materials for further breeding of this species.