Metabolic engineering to divert carbon flux from sucrose to oil in high biomass crop like sugarcane is an emerging strategy to boost lipid yields per hectare for biodiesel production. Sugarcane stems comprise more than 70% of the crops' biomass and can accumulate sucrose in excess of 20% of their extracted juice. The energy content of oils in the form of triacylglycerol (TAG) is more than twofold that of carbohydrates. Here, we report a step change in TAG accumulation in sugarcane stem tissues achieving an average of 4.3% of their dry weight (DW) in replicated greenhouse experiments by multigene engineering. The metabolic engineering included constitutive co‐expression of wrinkled1; diacylglycerol acyltransferase1‐2; cysteine‐oleosin; and ribonucleic acid interference‐suppression of sugar‐dependent1. The TAG content in leaf tissue was also elevated by more than 400‐fold compared to non‐engineered sugarcane to an average of 8.0% of the DW and the amount of total fatty acids reached about 13% of the DW. With increasing TAG accumulation an increase of 18:1 unsaturated fatty acids was observed at the expense of 16:0 and 18:0 saturated fatty acids. Total biomass accumulation, soluble lignin, Brix and juice content were significantly reduced in the TAG hyperaccumulating sugarcane lines. Overcoming this yield drag by engineering lipid accumulation into late stem development will be critical to exceed lipid yields of current oilseed crops.

Development of in vitro plant regeneration method from Brassica explants via organogenesis and somatic embryogenesis is influenced by many factors such as culture environment, culture medium composition, explant sources, and genotypes which are reviewed in this study. An efficient in vitro regeneration system to allow genetic transformation of Brassica is a crucial tool for improving its economical value. Methods to optimize transformation protocols for the efficient introduction of desirable traits, and a comparative analysis of these methods are also reviewed. Hence, binary vectors, selectable marker genes, minimum inhibitory concentration of selection agents, reporter marker genes, preculture media, Agrobacterium concentration and regeneration ability of putative transformants for improvement of Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of Brassica are discussed.

Downy mildew (DM), caused by obligate parasitic oomycetes, is a destructive disease for a wide range of crops worldwide. Recent outbreaks of impatiens downy mildew (IDM) in many countries have caused huge economic losses. A system to reveal plant–pathogen interactions in the early stage of infection and quickly assess resistance/susceptibility of plants to DM is desired. In this study, we established an early and rapid system to achieve these goals using impatiens as a model. Thirty-two cultivars ofImpatiens wallerianaandI. hawkeriwere evaluated for their responses to IDM at cotyledon, first/second pair of true leaf, and mature plant stages. AllI. wallerianacultivars were highly susceptible to IDM. While allI. hawkericultivars were resistant to IDM starting at the first true leaf stage, many (14/16) were susceptible to IDM at the cotyledon stage. Two cultivars showed resistance even at the cotyledon stage. Histological characterization showed that the resistance mechanism of theI. hawkericultivars resembles that in grapevine and type II resistance in sunflower. By integrating full-length transcriptome sequencing (Iso-Seq) and RNA-Seq, we constructed the first reference transcriptome forImpatienscomprised of 48,758 sequences with an N50 length of 2060 bp. Comparative transcriptome and qRT-PCR analyses revealed strong candidate genes for IDM resistance, including three resistance genes orthologous to the sunflower geneRGC203, a potential candidate associated with DM resistance. Our approach of integrating early disease-resistance phenotyping, histological characterization, and transcriptome analysis lay a solid foundation to improve DM resistance in impatiens and may provide a model for other crops.

Lantana (Lantana camara L., Verbenaceae) is an important ornamental crop, yet can be a highly invasive species. The formation of unreduced female gametes (UFGs) is a major factor contributing to its invasiveness and has severely hindered the development of sterile cultivars. To enrich the genomic resources and gain insight into the genetic mechanisms of UFG formation in lantana, we investigated the transcriptomes of young ovaries of two lantana genotypes, GDGHOP-36 (GGO), producing 100% UFGs, and a cultivar Landmark White Lantana (LWL), not producing UFGs. The de novo transcriptome assembly resulted in a total of 90,641 unique transcript sequences with an N50 of 1692 bp, among which, 29,383 sequences contained full-length coding sequences (CDS). There were 214 transcripts associated with the biological processes of gamete production and 10 gene families orthologous to genes known to control unreduced gamete production in Arabidopsis. We identified 925 transcription factor (TF)-encoding sequences, 91 nucleotide-binding site (NBS)-containing genes, and gene families related to drought/salt tolerance and allelopathy. These genomic resources and candidate genes involved in gamete formation will be valuable for developing new tools to control the invasiveness in L. camara, protect native lantana species, and understand the formation of unreduced gametes in plants.