Sclerotinia stem rot caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is one of the most severe diseases of rapeseed in China and other major growing regions. The objective of this study was to improve the S. sclerotiorum resistance of ‘Hui5200’, an elite ‘Polima’ CMS restorer line, by introgression and fixation of resistance alleles from the partially resistant cultivar ‘NingRS-1’ via phenotypic selection (PS), markerassisted background selection (MAB) and microspore culture. A progeny designated as ‘RSH’ with greatly improved Sclerotinia resistance and a similar genetic background as ‘Hui5200’ was obtained by two backcrosses and one selfing. From a selected elite progeny line (named as 7-5) double haploid (DH) lines were developed. By three cycles of PS considering economic traits and genetic distance analysis, four resistant DH restorer lines with elite economic traits were finally selected. The obtained resistant restorer lines have been used to produce commercial F1 hybrids. The results indicated that backcrossing plus PS and MAB is effective and suitable for improving resistance of rapeseed to S. sclerotiorum.

A recessive epistatic genic male sterility (REGMS) two-type line, 9012AB, has been used for rapeseed hybrid seed production in China. The male sterility of 9012AB is controlled by two recessive duplicate sterile genes (ms1 and ms2) interacting with one recessive epistatic suppressor gene (esp). Homozygosity at the esp locus (espesp) suppresses the expression of the recessive male sterility trait in homozygous ms1ms1ms2 ms2 plants. In this study, we used a combination of bulked segregant analyses and amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) to identify markers linked to the suppressor gene in a BC1 population. From the survey of 1024 AFLP primer combinations, eight markers tightly linked to the target gene were identified. The two closest markers flanking both sides of Esp, P9M5370 and S16M14780, had a genetic distance of 1.4 cM and 2.1 cM, respectively. The AFLP fragment from P4M8190, which co-segregated with the target gene was converted into a sequence characterized amplified region marker. The availability of linked molecular markers will facilitate the utilization of REGMS in hybrid breeding in Brassica napus.

Rs1046AB is a dominant genic male sterility (DGMS) line in rapeseed, in which the sterility has always been thought to be conditioned by the interaction of a male sterility gene (Ms) and its non-allelic restorer gene (Rf). This system provides not only a tool for assisting in recurrent selection but also a promising system for hybrid production. Based on previous studies, two amplified fragment length polymorphism markers linked with the Ms gene were converted into a dominant and a co-dominant sequence characterized amplified region (SCAR) marker, respectively. The putative linear order relationship of three dominant SCAR markers with the same genetic distance from the Rf gene, was also determined by an examination of whether the homologues of these markers are present or not in different lines carrying Rf. A bigger fragment generated by the closest marker linked to the Rf gene was observed in all lines carrying the recessive allele rf, suggesting that this marker is a co-dominant marker, which was further confirmed by nucleotide sequence comparison of these fragments. SCAR markers specific for Ms and Rf will be especially valuable in marker-assisted DGMS three-line breeding.

Over the past decade, the polima cytoplasmic male sterility (pol CMS) three-line and two-line systems have been developed for the production of hybrid seed in Brassica napus oilseed rape in China. The discovery of the novel pol CMS restorer line FL-204 is described here. It restores male fertility of hybrid plants in the pol CMS system, but hybrid seed production can only be carried out under autumn sowing in Wuhan in south China under moderate temperatures at flowering. The restorer cannot be used as a male for hybrid seed production in northwestern China (Gansu) under spring sowing conditions, because there it is more or less male sterile due to high temperatures at flowering. Because of this behaviour, it is referred to as a fertility temperature-sensitive restorer (FTSR) in this paper. F2, BC1 as well as double haploid populations were constructed to determine the inheritance of fertility restoration of FL-204 in the autumn at Wuhan and under spring sowing conditions at Gansu, respectively. Deviations from Mendelian genetics were observed. It was hypothesized that the change of fertility was the result of the interaction between nuclear genes [restoring gene (Rf) and temperature-sensitive genes (ts)] and the cytoplasm. The Rf gene in FL-204 was incapable of restoring male fertility of pol CMS lines under spring sowing conditions at Gansu where it is inactivated by the recessive ts gene present in FL-204. However, the ts gene(s) could be non-functional under moderate temperature conditions at flowering at Wuhan which allows full expression of male fertility in FL-204. The recessive ts gene(s) can only be expressed in plants containing the pol sterile cytoplasm. A method for the utilization of the FTSR pol CMS restorer FL-204 for the production of hybrid seed in B. napus oilseed rape is proposed.

A novel Pol CMS named Polima temperature-sensitive cytoplasmic male sterile (Pol TCMS) is sterile at high temperatures and partially fertile at low temperatures. Its temperature sensitivity is controlled by several minor genes, and probably influenced by the genetic background, making it quite difficult to breed a stable Pol TCMS line through the conventional breeding methods. The present study aimed to obtain stable homozygous Pol TCMS lines by microspore culture. The highest frequency of embryogenesis was induced from cultures of buds sampled at 4-7 days before first blossom. The second method of microspore cultures mentioned in this study could significantly increase the production of embryos. Analysis of fatty acid composition, glucosinolate content and genetic diversity by simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers indicated that microspore culture was effective for selecting Pol TCMS lines.