title: Occurrence of metaxenia and false hybrids in Brassica juncea L. cv. Kikarashina × B. napus.
abstract: Imported genetically modified (GM) canola (Brassica napus) is approved by Japanese law. Some GM canola varieties have been found around importation sites, and there is public concern that these may have any harmful effects on related species such as reduction of wild relatives. Because B. juncea is distributed throughout Japan and is known to be high crossability with B. napus, it is assumed to be a recipient of B. napus. However, there are few reports for introgression of cross-combination in B. juncea × B. napus. To assess crossability, we artificially pollinated B. juncea with B. napus. After harvesting a large number of progeny seeds, we observed false hybrids and metaxenia of seed coats. Seed coat color was classified into four categories and false hybrids were confirmed by morphological characteristics and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. Furthermore, the occurrence of false hybrids was affected by varietal differences in B. napus, whereas that of metaxenia was related to hybridity. Therefore, we suggest that metaxenia can be used as a marker for hybrid identification in B. juncea L. cv. Kikarashina × B. napus. Our results suggest that hybrid productivity in B. juncea × B. napus should not be evaluated by only seed productivity, crossability ought to be assessed the detection of true hybrids.
authors.affiliation: Genetically Modified Organism Research Center, National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences (NIAS) , 2-1-2 Kannondai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8602, Japan.
authors.forename: Mai
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tsuda
authors.forename: Ken-Ichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Konagaya
authors.forename: Ayako
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Okuzaki
authors.forename: Yukio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kaneko
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tabei
keywords: B. napus; Brassica juncea; GM canola; false hybrid; gene flow; metaxenia