To investigate flowering related genes in winter-type oilseed rape (Brassica napus L. cv. Tammi), differentially expressed genes were isolated from leaves of the plant after low temperature treatment which is requirements for floral induction. As a result of suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH), 288 clones were randomly selected from SSH library. Using reverse Northern blot analysis, 150 of 288 clones were identified to be differentially expressed. Out of these 150 clones, 45 clones showed very high identities with the known genes. Four clones showed very high identities over 90% with metallothionein-like gene that is related to flowering-induced genes. Of these 4 clones, the cDNA clone, rfs-13, revealed high identity with meotallothionein-like protein in Arabidopsis thaliana (98%) and Brassica compestris (89%). Furthermore, gene expressed in immature flower stages was confirmed by Northern blot analysis.

Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) accumulate in the leaves of barley during cold acclimation, where they may inhibit ice recrystallization and produce freezing resistance of the plant. Four parental diallel crosses of the barley varieties were used to determine the heritability of AFPs and the relationship between the accumulation level of AFPs and freezing resistance. The concentration of apoplastic proteins in the cold-acclimated leaves was increased in the mean by four-fold over as compared with that of nonacclimated. The diallel cross analyses revealed that the gene of Sacheon 6 was dominant and those of Reno and Dongbori 1 were recessive. The AFPs had high narrow-sense heritabilities. The general combining ability effects of Reno and Dongbori 1 were much higher than the other parents. The bands of 32-kD for GLP, 35-& 28-kD for CLP and 25-, 22- & 16-kD for TLP were observed in the apoplastic extracts from cold-acclimated plants, but there were no clear differences between the parents and Fl hybrids. The concentrations of AFPs were significantly correlated with the degree of freezing resistance, indicating that the concentration of AFPs in the plant is the very important factor for freezing resistance.

Intraspecific genetic diversity of sixteen accessions of Mogolian Alliums including fifteen species was investigated using randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis. Twenty three out of forty primers revealed scorable polymorphism. A total of 440 RAPD markers were generated on the 16 accessions of Mongolian Alliums. Among 440 RAPDs assayed, 439 were polymorphic with a mean polymorphic rate of 99.7%. Unweighted pair-group method using an arithmetic average (UPGMA) cluster analysis using RAPD data separated the 16 Allium accessions into two broad groups at similarity index 0.70. The clustering of the species was closely related with previous classification between A. altaicum and A. fistulosum. In addition, a high genetic similarity was showed between A. cepa and A. tagar.