This scientist who conducts precision molecular breeding in the laboratory has drawn the world's first complete genome map of mustard tuber

Reporter Weng Danni Photographer Jin Jingxin

This issue publishes the following results:

Analysis of genomic information and genetic basis of important traits in cruciferous vegetables

Publisher of this issue:

Zhang Mingfang, Qiushi Distinguished Professor of Zhejiang University

Achievement Award Level:

First Prize of Zhejiang Natural Science Award

my country is the world's largest producer and consumer of vegetables. From "Shepherd's purse flowers bloom in spring at the head of the stream" to "Cucumbers sold under cowhide and ancient willow trees", our relationship with vegetables has evolved over time and on the Chinese dining table.

From traditional experience-based selection breeding to the hybrid vigor breeding that we are familiar with today, my country's vegetable breeding is now in the stage of transitioning to the 3.0 era of molecular breeding, and will continue to move towards the 4.0 era of intelligent design breeding in the future.

Some people say that a seed can change the world, and the genes that determine the quality of seeds are crucial. It can be said that seeds are the "chips" of agriculture, and genes are the "chips" of the seed industry. Zhang Mingfang, a distinguished professor at Zhejiang University, is such an expert in using genomic information to "change" seeds.

Professor Zhang Mingfang has been engaged in vegetable genetic breeding for 30 years. He and his team have achieved a series of original results in the fields of genome information analysis, functional gene mining, and excellent germplasm creation of important Cruciferae and Cucurbitaceae vegetable crops, which have effectively promoted the process of vegetable molecular design breeding in my country.

At the Zhejiang Provincial Science and Technology Awards Conference, the achievement of Professor Zhang Mingfang's team - "Analysis of Genome Information of Cruciferous Vegetables and Genetic Basis of Important Traits" won the first first prize in natural sciences in the field of vegetable horticulture in Zhejiang Province.

He drew the world's first complete genome map of mustard tuber

Enriched and deepened the understanding of the "family tree" of mustard tuber

The term "gene editing" used to appear more in the biomedical field. Professor Zhang Mingfang told us that gene editing can be said to be the 5G technology in the agricultural field, but at present, new technologies such as gene editing are not widely used in my country. For vegetables, research is only being carried out on a few crops.

Professor Zhang Mingfang's team mainly carried out relevant germplasm innovation and molecular design breeding research around two vegetable crops with high economic value in our province (country): cruciferous mustard and cucurbitaceae melons.

You may not be familiar with mustard greens, but you are very familiar with zhacai. In fact, after pickling, mustard greens become various pickled vegetables that we are familiar with, such as zhacai, plum pickled vegetables in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and Lao Gan Ma spicy vegetables in Guizhou. Cucurbitaceae melon vegetables are also our "old friends", such as watermelon, melon, pumpkin, etc., which are all Cucurbitaceae melons.

Professor Zhang Mingfang's team was the first in the world to resolve the high-quality genome of the allotetraploid mustard tuber, laying a genomic foundation for the functional genome research of mustard tuber crops.

How to cultivate more flavorful mustard? Zhang Mingfang told everyone that the secret of mustard's unique flavor is that it is rich in glucosinolates, and different glucosinolate components determine the formation of different flavor qualities. Therefore, Zhang Mingfang's team systematically evaluated the glucosinolate components and contents in the mustard population, and used a new genome-wide association analysis method to find the genetic loci that control glucosinolates.

In addition to mustard tuber, watermelon, which is loved by many people in summer, also has the contribution of Zhang Mingfang's team. We all know that fruit farmers are most afraid of watermelon cracking. How to breed watermelons with good quality and not easy to crack? This is a difficult problem. Because the cracking trait is a typical complex trait, it is not as simple as we think to judge it by pressing with the palm of the hand. It requires precise digital indicators to quantify in order to accurately find the genes that control cracking.

Zhang Mingfang's team constructed genetically isolated populations of crack-resistant and crack-prone watermelons and found that the gene that controls the hardness of the watermelon rind is located on chromosome 10. Zhang Mingfang used "blood type" as an analogy. If crack-resistant watermelons are "type A", then those that are not crack-resistant are "type B", and those that have both are "type AB". Now, we can breed crisp, sweet, and crack-resistant watermelon varieties by testing the "blood type".

【Science Article】

Gene editing × vegetable breeding

"In the past, we said that breeding is about discovering and utilizing mutations, so gene editing is about creating and utilizing mutations in a targeted manner. Gene editing can accurately and quickly carry out mutations, and is not limited by germplasm resources. Although our country has not yet enacted legislation on gene editing, this breeding technology will be one of the future trends, and we must do a good job in the early technical preparations."

Fertility "switch" genes

"We created the first cytoplasmic male sterile line in mustard, breaking through the technical bottleneck of hybrid vigor in mustard. On this basis, we created the first fertility reversion mutation line in cruciferous crops and successfully achieved the artificial conversion of fertility in cruciferous vegetables. In other words, we have the technology to turn sterility into fertility, so that our germplasm resources will not be restricted by foreign sterile materials and break the monopoly of foreign technology."

Molecular design breeding

"In recent years, the rise of omics technology represented by plant (crop) genomes has greatly promoted the development of molecular breeding to precision breeding. For example, our laboratory is building a high-throughput vegetable precision breeding technology system based on genomics, from genome information analysis to breeding-usable gene mining, and finally achieving the selection and breeding of high-quality, highly resistant and widely adaptable new varieties."

Intelligent design breeding

We will rely on multi-level biotechnology and information technology to promote the development of molecular design breeding towards intelligence, and achieve a disruptive transformation of crop breeding from "scientific" to "intelligent".