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Title: Glossy and Nonglossy Near-isogenic Lines USVL115-GL, USVL115-NG, USVL188-GL and USVL188-NG of Broccoli Derived from Doubled Haploids

Author
item Farnham, Mark

Submitted to: HortScience
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/16/2009
Publication Date: 4/1/2010
Citation: Farnham, M.W. 2010. Glossy and Nonglossy Near-isogenic Lines USVL115-GL, USVL115-NG, USVL188-GL and USVL188-NG of Broccoli Derived from Doubled Haploids. HortScience. 45:660-662.

Interpretive Summary: Scientists who study insect pests of vegetable crops have found that certain types of varieties in the cabbage and broccoli family of vegetables, which have shiny or glossy leaves, appear to be resistant to feeding by several types of caterpillars. In all previous research on this topic the studied plant varieties that have glossy leaves are usually unrelated to the comparison varieties that have normal leaves, and it is difficult to determine the exact effect of the glossy trait on caterpillars when they feed on the different types of leaves. The broccoli breeding project at the U.S. Vegetable Laboratory in Charleston has developed two sets of paired lines of broccoli that are indistinguishable from one another except one individual has glossy leaves and the other has normal leaves. DNA fingerprinting of the two lines that make up each pair shows that they are like identical twins except for one characteristic. These new lines are designated USVL115-GL and USVL115-NG, and USVL188-GL and USVL188-NG. Insect and plant scientists who are interested in understanding how some plants resist insect predation will want to use these paired lines in controlled studies to effectively compare the specific beneficial effect that glossy leaves have in protecting the cabbage and broccoli family from caterpillars. From such studies, these lines will help increase our understanding of a particular mechanism, by which plants are protected against insect attack.

Technical Abstract: Two pairs of near-isogenic lines of green-sprouting broccoli (Brassica oleracea L. var. italica), designated USVL115-GL and USVL115-NG, and USVL188-GL and USVL188-NG, were released by the Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2008. Each of the released pairs (doubled haploids) includes two uniform and true-breeding broccoli lines that appear identical to one another except that one has normal, nonglossy (NG) leaves, and the other has glossy (GL) leaves. Using the two pairs of broccoli lines that only differ for the glossy leaf trait, plant scientists can better study the effect of the leaf glossy trait on other plant attributes like resistance to lepidopterous caterpillar predation.