No abstract

The Lamiaceae family, which includes basil, sage, and thyme, has long been recognized as a rich source of diverse and unique anthocyanins. The development of intensely purple pigmented basil in the ornamental and herb trade prompted this examination of eight commercial varieties of purple basils (Ocimum basilicum L.) as a potential new source of anthocyanins. Anthocyanins were isolated and characterized utilizing high-performance liquid chromatography, spectral data, and plasma desorption mass spectrometry. Fourteen different anthocyanins were isolated, consisting of 11 cyanidin-based pigments and 3 peonidin-based pigments. The large-leaf basil varieties, Purple Ruffles, Rubin, and Dark Opal, had an average extractable total anthocyanin content ranging from 16.63 to 18.78 mg/100 g of fresh tissue, while the ornamental small-leaf variety, Purple Bush, had only 6.49 mg/100 g of fresh tissue. The highest concentration of total anthocyanins occurred just prior to flowering, although by day 8 seedlings already had accumulated all 14 anthocyanins. Comparisons were made to other anthocyanin sources, with results showing that purple basils are an abundant source of acylated and glycosylated anthocyanins and could provide a unique source of stable red pigments to the food industry.

Thlapsi arvense L. (pennycress) is being developed as a profitable oilseed cover crop for the winter fallow period throughout the temperate regions of the world, controlling soil erosion and nutrients run-off on otherwise barren farmland. We demonstrate that pennycress can serve as a user-friendly model system akin to Arabidopsis that is well-suited for both laboratory and field experimentation. We sequenced the diploid genome of the spring-type Spring 32-10 inbred line (1C DNA content of 539 Mb; 2n = 14), identifying variation that may explain phenotypic differences with winter-type pennycress, as well as predominantly a one-to-one correspondence with Arabidopsis genes, which makes translational research straightforward. We developed an Agrobacterium-mediated floral dip transformation method (0.5% transformation efficiency) and introduced CRISPR-Cas9 constructs to produce indel mutations in the putative FATTY ACID ELONGATION1 (FAE1) gene, thereby abolishing erucic acid production and creating an edible seed oil comparable to that of canola. We also stably transformed pennycress with the Euonymus alatus diacylglycerol acetyltransferase (EaDAcT) gene, producing low-viscosity acetyl-triacylglycerol-containing seed oil suitable as a diesel-engine drop-in fuel. Adoption of pennycress as a model system will accelerate oilseed-crop translational research and facilitate pennycress' rapid domestication to meet the growing sustainable food and fuel demands.

Field pennycress [Thlaspi arvense L.; hereafter pennycress) is an oilseed crop being investigated as an off-season biofuel source that can potentially fit into the existing crop rotation cycle with soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.]. The objective of this 2-yr study was to evaluate the effect of pennycress residue on seed yield and quality components of soybean planted during five consecutive weeks, from mid-May to mid-June. In 2009 and 2010, the mean soybean dry weight seed yield after pennycress residue for all pianting dates (4108 and 3490 kg ha-\ respectively) was greater than yield from fallow control plots (3636 and 2992 kg ha-\ respectively). However, in 2010, soybean planted after pennycress had slightly lower oil content (202 g kg-^) than that obtained from fallow control plots (207 g kg-'') (P < 0.01). Delayed pianting until mid-June resulted in lower population density, plant height, seed yield, and oil concentration. Before June, planting date had no significant influence on soybean seed yield and quality. Protein content in soybean seed was not affected by year, pennycress residue, or planting date. Variation in the experimental year temperature values led to significant changes in oil components. High temperatures decreased levels of linoleic, linolenic, and stearic acids but increased levels of palmitic and oleic acids. Overall, pennycress had no negative effect on the subsequent soybean crop.

The instability of the purple pigments (anthocyanins) in purple basil varieties (Ocimum basilicum L.) limits their use as ornamental plants and as a potential anthocyanin source. Several self-pollinated generations of all purple plants were unsuccessful in stabilizing anthocyanin expression. In this study we investigated the inheritance and stability patterns of leaf traits using the Purple Ruffles variety. The results from the complete diallele crosses indicated anthocyanin expression in vegetative tissue is controlled by two dominant genes and ruffled leaf texture is controlled by a single recessive gene. Genes controlling leaf margin and leaf base structures were tightly linked to leaf texture. Essential oil production and oil constituents in leaves did not change as a result of the reversion in color. Color stability in cuttings was affected by the environment and the location where cuttings were taken. An accumulation of secondary metabolites (apigenin, genistein, and kaempferol) in green-reverted sectors on purple leaves was detected using reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis; this suggested a potential block in the anthocyanin pathway. We hypothesize the reversion mutation is occurring in an anthocyanin regulatory gene.