AUTHOR=Chen Yongzhong , Wang Baoming , Chen Jianjun , Wang Xiangnan , Wang Rui , Peng Shaofeng , Chen Longsheng , Ma Li , Luo Jian 

TITLE=Identification of Rubisco rbcL and rbcS in Camellia oleifera and their potential as molecular markers for selection of high tea oil cultivars

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=6

YEAR=2015

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2015.00189

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2015.00189

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>Tea oil derived from seeds of <italic>Camellia oleifera</italic> Abel. is high-quality edible oil in China. This study isolated full-length cDNAs of Rubisco subunits <italic>rbcL</italic> and <italic>rbcS</italic> from <italic>C. oleifera</italic>. The <italic>rbcL</italic> has 1,522 bp with a 1,425 bp coding region, encoding 475 amino acids; and the <italic>rbcS</italic> has 615 bp containing a 528 bp coding region, encoding 176 amino acids. The expression level of the two genes, designated as <italic>Co-rbcL</italic> and <italic>Co-rbcS</italic>, was determined in three <italic>C. oleifera</italic> cultivars: Hengchong 89, Xianglin 1, and Xianglin 14 whose annual oil yields were 546.9, 591.4, and 657.7 kg ha<sup>-1</sup>, respectively. The <italic>Co</italic>-<italic>rbcL</italic> expression in ‘Xianglin 14’ was significantly higher than ‘Xianglin 1’, and ‘Xianglin 1’ was greater than ‘Hengchong 89’. The expression levels of <italic>Co-rbcS</italic> in ‘Xianglin 1’ and ‘Xianglin 14’ were similar but were significantly greater than in ‘Hengchong 89’. The net photosynthetic rate of ‘Xianglin 14’ was significantly higher than ‘Xianglin 1’, and ‘Xianglin 1’ was higher than ‘Hengchong 89’. Pearson’s correlation analysis showed that seed yields and oil yields were highly correlated with the expression level of <italic>Co-rbcL</italic> at <italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.001 level; and the expression of <italic>Co-rbcS</italic> was correlated with oil yield at <italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.01 level. Net photosynthetic rate was also correlated with oil yields and seed yields at <italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.001 and <italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.01 levels, respectively. Our results suggest that <italic>Co-rbcS</italic> and <italic>Co-rbcL</italic> in particular could potentially be molecular markers for early selection of high oil yield cultivars. In combination with the measurement of net photosynthetic rates, the early identification of potential high oil production cultivars would significantly shorten plant breeding time and increase breeding efficiency.</p>