Transposable element-mediated structural variations shape gene expression and agronomic trait diversity in Brassica napus
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Updated: Nov 10, 2026

Hairy Root Transformation and Regeneration in Arabidopsis thaliana and Brassica napus
Published on: December 22, 2023
Zengdong Tan1,2, Yuyu Zheng1,3, Zhilin Guan1,4
1National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Hubei Hongshan Laboratory, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China.
Abstract:
Brassica napus is a globally important allotetraploid oilseed crop with a complex genome and extensive structural diversity that remains incompletely characterized. Here, we present gap-free reference genome assemblies for Zhongshuang 11 (ZS11) and Westar, and assemble six additional accessions. We harmonize gene annotations across 22 genomes and develop BnaScope ( https://rgmi.hzau.edu.cn/bnascope ), a gene-centric functional genomics platform. Gene-based and graph-based pan-genomes identify 123,107 non-redundant gene clusters and 188,218 structural variants, including 112,417 transposable element-mediated structural variants (TEMSVs). TEMSVs show asymmetric distributions between An and Cn subgenomes and are associated with increased homoeolog expression imbalance, particularly for CDS-TEMSVs. SV-based genome-wide association analyses identify candidate genes underlying seed quality traits, and functional analyses demonstrate that BnaPYRDs negatively regulate seed glucosinolate content. These findings establish structural variation as an important contributor to homoeolog regulation and seed-quality variation in B. napus.
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