Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Ongoing domestication efforts for field cress, Lepidium campestre, aim to commercialize field cress as an industrial oil crop in Sweden, potentially offering a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels and mineral oils in various industries. The identification of polymorphisms and genetic variation among different accessions is useful for identifying suitable individuals in crossbreeding. To examine genetic variation in the FAD2 genomic coding region of field cress, plant tissue was sampled from 16 accessions of greenhouse plants grown from wild-collected field cress seeds. DNA was extracted from the accessions. The FAD2 coding region was amplified via PCR cycling, and the purified PCR products were sequenced according to the Sanger method. Based on the alignment of the gene sequences and comparison with FAD2 gene sequences from a previous study (Lodenius 2023) and a genetic data bank, one INDEL linked to the loss of the amino acid serine and one heterozygous locus leading to the single amino acid substitution of arginine for glycine were identified. Overall, the accessions showed overwhelming homogeneity in the sequenced genetic region, despite the diverse origins of seeds within Sweden and Denmark. Future research may examine whether identified polymorphisms affect protein synthesis and whether they are linked with variation in field cress seed oil composition.