SNP discovery and applications in Brassica napus

Abstract

This review summarises the biology, discovery and applications of single nucleotide polymorphisms in complex polyploid crop genomes, with a focus on the important oilseed crop <TEX>$Brassica$</TEX> <TEX>$napus$</TEX>. <TEX>$Brassica$</TEX> <TEX>$napus$</TEX> is an allotetraploid species, and along with soybean and oil palm is one of the top three most important oilseed crops globally. Current efforts are well underway to <TEX>$de$</TEX> <TEX>$novo$</TEX> assemble the <TEX>$B.$</TEX> <TEX>$napus$</TEX> genome, following the release of the related <TEX>$B.$</TEX> <TEX>$rapa$</TEX> 'A' genome last year. The next generation of genome sequencing, SNP discovery and analysis pipelines, and the associated challenges for this work in <TEX>$B.$</TEX> <TEX>$napus$</TEX>, will be addressed. The biological applications of SNP technology for both evolutionary and molecular geneticists as well as plant breeders and industry are far-reaching, and will be invaluable to our understanding and advancement of the <TEX>$Brassica$</TEX> crop species.