Scientists Provides New Tool in Breeding More Climate-Resilient Cole Crops

Scientists from the University of York developed an adaptable framework for describing the genome across all Brassica species or cole crops to help develop better varieties.

The scientists used gene technology to show that the fundamental structure of the genomes of Brassica species is the same. They corrected organizational errors such as misplaced genome segments to clarify the evolutionary pathways and provided a global gene nomenclature system for the cultivated Brassica species.

"We report for the first time the complete set of genes for a genome aggregated across all of the multiple species in which that genome occurs," said Prof. Ian Bancroft, Chair of Plant Genomics at the Centre for Novel Agriculture Products. "This enabled us to define a new system of names and terms for genes of the brassica crops and provides an example for other groups of species in which genomes are shared, such as wheats,"Prof. Bancroft added.

The study provides a knowledge-based approach in efficiently breeding Brassica crops such as broccoli, cabbage, kale, pak choi, and swede.

For more details about the study, read the article from the University of York and the journal article in Nature Plants.