Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and insertion-deletions (INDELs) are currently the important classes of genetic markers for major crop species. In this study, methods for developing SNP markers in rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) and their in silico mapping and use for genotyping are demonstrated. For the development of SNP and INDEL markers, 181 fragments from 121 different gene sequences spanning 86 kb were examined. A combination of different selection methods (genome-specific amplification, hetero-duplex analysis and sequence analysis) allowed the detection of 18 singular fragments that showed a total of 87 SNPs and 6 INDELs between 6 different rapeseed varieties. The average frequency of sequence polymorphism was estimated to be one SNP every 247 bp and one INDEL every 3,583 bp. Most SNPs and INDELs were found in non-coding regions. Polymorphism information content values for SNP markers ranged between 0.02 and 0.50 in a set of 86 varieties. Using comparative genetics data for B. napus and Arabidopsis thaliana, an allocation of SNP markers to linkage groups in rapeseed was achieved: a unique location was determined for seven gene sequences; two and three possible locations were found for six and four sequences, respectively. The results demonstrate the usefulness of existing genomic resources for SNP discovery in rapeseed.

Ninety-six percent of the area grown with GM plants was located in six countries (United States: 55%, Argentina: 19%, Brazil: 10%, Canada: 6%, China: 4%, and Paraguay: 2%). Recently, new EU regulations (Nos. 1829/2003 and 1830/2003) concerning the traceability and labelling of GM food and feed products were passed by the European Parliament and the European Council. Labelling is not obligatory for food and feed products with GM proportions below 0.9% of the ingredients considered individually or products consisting of a single ingredient, provided that this presence is adventitious or technically unavoidable during seed production, cultivation, harvest, transport, or processing. In addition, a recommendation on guidelines for the development of national strategies and best practices was published by the European Commission involving cultivation distances between GM crops and non-GM crops, buffer zones, cropping intervals, the control of volunteer plants, etc., to ensure the co-existence of GM crops with conventional and organic farming. Particularly for oilseed rape, which can be described as a high-risk crop for crop-to-crop gene flow due to cross pollination by the vectors insects and wind, specific rules for cultivation are discussed. The main objective of this study was the examination of short distance outcrossing of transgenic oilseed rape in the nearest neighborhood. The experimental design allowed the detailed determination of the effects of distance and wind direction on pollination frequencies and distribution. For regulations of co-existence of GM crop cultivation with conventional and organic farming, the relationship between distance and outcrossing is of major interest. In a three-year field trial, the outcrossing frequencies and distribution from plots with different ratios of transgenic plants (100%, 1.0% and 0.1%) containing the pat-gene for resistance towards the broad-range herbicide glufosinate-ammonium were determined in surrounding acceptor plots within a distance of 3-11 m using a biotest. Materials and methods Plant material The oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) varieties used in the field trial were the conventional winter variety 'Falcon' and the isogenic transformation line 'Falcon GS40/90', which is tolerant towards broad-range glufosinate-ammonium herbicides (trade names BASTA® or Liberty®) due to the integration of the synthetic phosphinothricin acetyltransferase (pat) gene derived from Streptomyces viridochromogenes. The transgenic plants were used in 'contamination plots' as source of transgenic pollen ('donors'). The non-transgenic variety 'Falcon' was used in surrounding plots ('acceptors') to determine the outcrossing frequencies from transgenic oilseed rape caused by transgenic pollen. Experimental design The field experiments were carried out on an experimental station near Munich (Germany) in the years 2001 to 2004. Each transgenic donor plot was surrounded by eight acceptor plots with non-transgenic plants. Plot size was 6 m x 6 m with 50 plants/m2. The distance between donor and acceptor plots was

In the future, global climate change is expected to limit yields in agricultural production due to water shortage in the periods relevant for plant growth. This will also affect perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.), one of the most important grass species in Europe. One of the most promising approaches to overcome this problem is the genetic improvement of drought tolerance by breeding new varieties. In the presented project 200 accessions comprising L. perenne accessions from 20 countries and breeding material as well as some checks from drought tolerant grass species were tested in field trials at drought prone locations. The tested material showed large genetic variation for biomass production under drought conditions. Subsets of this material were tested for drought tolerance under controlled conditions in rain-out shelter, greenhouse and laboratory trials. The subsets of 20 and 50 accessions were used for measuring agronomic performance and detailed phenotyping under controlled drought conditions. Phenotypic traits for a high-throughput recording of drought response of either single plants or plots were tested and compared with yield data. Most of the tested traits showed high heritabilities on a plot as well as on single plant basis and high correlations with yield data were found. The visual scoring of biomass was found to be a suitable selection criteria. In our testset, tetraploid accessions were found to be more drought tolerant than diploid accessions, but drought response seems to be independent from flowering time. Single clones with different drought response could be selected for building segregating populations.