Modern breeding of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.), which started 100 years ago, increased the number and the diversity of cultivated forms. In addition, for more than 50 years, wild sunflower and otherHelianthusspecies have been collected in North America where they all originated. Collections of both cultivated and wild forms are maintained in gene banks in many countries where sunflower is an important crop, with some specificity according to the availability of germplasm and to local research and breeding programmes. Cultivated material includes land races, open pollinated varieties, synthetics and inbred lines. The majority of wild accessions are ecotypes of wildHelianthus annuus, but also 52 other species ofHelianthusand a few related genera. The activities of three gene banks, in USA, France and Serbia, are described in detail, supplemented by data from seven other countries. Past and future uses of the genetic resources for environmental adaptation and breeding are discussed in relation to genomic and improved phenotypic knowledge of the cultivated and wild accessions available in the gene banks.

The phenomenon of cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS), consisting in the inability to produce functional pollen due to mutations in mitochondrial genome, has been described in more than 150 plant species. With the discovery of nuclear fertility restorer (Rf) genes capable of suppressing the CMS phenotype, it became possible to use the CMS-Rf genetic systems as the basis for practical utilization of heterosis effect in various crops. Seed production of sunflower hybrids all over the world is based on the extensive use of the PET1 CMS combined with the Rf1 gene. At the same time, data on Rf1 localization, sequence, and molecular basis for the CMS PET1 type restoration of fertility remain unknown. Searching for candidate genes of the Rf1 gene has great fundamental and practical value. Therefore, in this study, association mapping of fertility restorer gene for CMS PET1 in sunflower was performed. The genome-wide association study (GWAS) results made it possible to isolate a segment 7.72 Mb in length on chromosome 13, in which 21 candidates for Rf1 fertility restorer gene were identified, including 20 pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR)family genes and one Probable aldehyde dehydrogenase gene. The results will serve as a basis for further study of the genetic nature and molecular mechanisms of pollen fertility restoration in sunflower, as well as for further intensification of sunflower breeding.

This review is devoted to the description of chemical peculiarities of industrial oil crops cultivated (or prospective for cultivation) in Russia, which are stored in the VIR collection. Different crops have similar fatty acids biosynthesis pathways, but each species has its own individualities in the chemical composition of the oil and its genetic control. The diversity of oil crop chemical composition opens the possibility of its multipurpose utilization practically in all industrial segments. Sunflower, rapeseed, flax, mustard, camelina and safflower are cultivated in Russia as oil crops. Castor beans, perilla, lallemantia and noog are not cultivated on an industrial scale, but have original oil properties and are prospective for future cultivation. Hemp and poppy seeds contain oil valuable for food, but they are not widespread. Cotton and peanut oils are prospective for industrial purposes when early, already created varieties of these crops will be cultivated in Russia. Oil properties depend on the ratio of its basic fatty acids: saturated (stearic, palmitic) and unsaturated (oleic, linoleic, linolenic). As a rule, lauric, myristic and palmitoleic acids are determined in minor quantities. The oil of Brassicaceae crops also includes arachidic, eicosenoic, eicosadienoic, behenic, erucic and lignoceric acids. Fatty acids accumulation is influenced by growing conditions, though it has strict genetic control.

More than 70 cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) types have been identified in Helianthus, but only for less than half of them, research of mitochondrial organization has been conducted. Moreover, complete mitochondrion sequences have only been published for two CMS sources – PET1 and PET2. It has been demonstrated that other sunflower CMS sources like MAX1, significantly differ from the PET1 and PET2 types. However, possible molecular causes for the CMS induction by MAX1 have not yet been proposed. In the present study, we have investigated structural changes in the mitochondrial genome of HA89 (MAX1) CMS sunflower line in comparison to the fertile mitochondrial genome. Eight significant major reorganization events have been determined in HA89 (MAX1) mtDNA: one 110 kb inverted region, four deletions of 439 bp, 978 bp, 3183 bp and 14,296 bp, respectively, and three insertions of 1999 bp, 5272 bp and 6583 bp. The rearrangements have led to functional changes in the mitochondrial genome of HA89 (MAX1) resulting in the complete elimination of orf777 and the appearance of new ORFs - orf306, orf480, orf645 and orf1287. Aligning the mtDNA of the CMS sources PET1 and PET2 with MAX1 we found some common reorganization features in their mitochondrial genome sequences. The new open reading frame orf1287, representing a chimeric atp6 gene, may play a key role in MAX1 CMS phenotype formation in sunflower, while the contribution of other mitochondrial reorganizations seems to appear negligible for the CMS development.