Brassica Biotechnology

Abstract

When Prof. Chopra was asked in 1985 to lead the establishemnet of a new discipline of Molecualr Biology and Biotechnology at IARI, he accepted the responsibility on the condition that he would continue to pursue the work he was engaged in at that time and integrate it into the new programme. Initially three major crops of national importance, namely, rice, chickpea and Brassica representing the three broad categories of food crops, cereal, pulse and oilseed were targeted for biotechnological improvement. As a Professor of Eminence, Prof. Chopra had initiated work on Brassica improvement and hence he chose to lead the Brassica programme. Incidentally, around this period (in 1986), Govt. of India launched ‘Technology Mission on Oilseeds’ with the aim of achieving self-sufficiency in edible oil production. Also, biotechnological techniques were being standardized in Brassica napus, a major oilseed crop of Europe, Canada and Australia. Thus the choice of Brassica, in particular the Indian mustard B. juncea, for biotechnological improvement was timely and well considered. Prof. Chopra assembled a group comprising plant breeder, cytogeneticists, plant tissue culture specialists to apply the biotechnolgical tools to improve oilseed Brassica. Taking cue from the global trend, the group initiated work on plant tissue culture and set out to standardize tissue culture protocols for somaclonal breeding, anther/microspore culture and somatic hybridization and plant transformation. Once standardized, these protocols were to be applied for developing improved germplasm lines and varieties, novel cytoplasmic male sterility systems for heterosis breeding, introgression of genes for disease resistance, genetic transformation and so on. Down the line, work was initiated to clone genes and promoters and to develop molecular marker systems in Brassica. Below we present a summary of the Brassica research work conducted under the leadership of Prof. Chopra and highlight the salient contributions.