Rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) oil is mostly refined oil (RO). However, with increasing interest in health, the consumption of cold-pressed oil (CPO) without chemical refining is increasing in Korea. In this study, quality characteristics of CPO from rapeseed varieties ‘Jungmo7001’, ‘Jungmo7002’, ‘Jungmo7003’,and ‘Yuryeo’were evaluated and compared with RO, a commercial product. L-value and a-value were lower while b-value was significantly higher for CPO than those for RO. Analysis of fatty acid compositions of each oil revealed that CPO from ‘Yuryeo’contained the highest oleic acid at 74%. Analyses of contents of bioactive compounds in CPOs and RO revealed that contents of tocopherol, β-carotene, and canolol were the highest in CPOs from ‘Jungmo7003’, ‘Jungmo7002’, and ‘Jungmo7001’at 55.5, 0.3, and 0.2 mg/100 g, respectively. In addition, CPOs contained higher contents of bioactive compounds than RO, suggesting that CPO could provide health benefits. The induction period of CPOs measured using Rancimat were 9∼52% longer than that for RO, indicating that CPOs had a higher oxidative stability under given conditions. These results could be used to obtain basic data on quality of domestic rapeseed varieties.

FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) is major determinant of the length of the vegetative phase in plants. To understand the role of FT homologs in flowering time control of soybean, we identified ten soybean FT genes and named GmFTs. Expression analysis of GmFT homologs showed that the transcripts of most FT clade genes are mainly expressed in leaves. The expression of GmFT2a, GmFT2b, GmFT5a, and GmFT6 strongly induced in response to floral inductive short-day condition, but GmFT4 and GmFT6 exhibited opposite expression pattern. To understand the biological function of each GmFT/TFL1 genes in flowering time control, we ectopically expressed GmFT cDNAs in Arabidopsis under the control of CaMV 35S promoter. Interestingly, while 35S:GmFT2a and 35S:GmFT5a transgenic plant showed extremely early flowering phenotype, overexpression of GmFT4 delayed flowering. Furthermore we analyzed expression patterns GmFT genes in the leaves of Korean soybean landraces showing various flowering time. The results showed that the transcript level of two FT homologs, GmFT2a and GmFT5a, was high in early flowering landraces, but low in late flowering landraces. In contrast, GmFT4 exhibited opposite expression pattern to those of GmFT2a and GmFT5a, suggesting that GmFT4 may function antagonistically to GmFT2a and GmFT5a in flowering time control of soybean. These results demonstrated that soybean FT homologs have both unique and conserved functions in the photoperiodic control of flowering compared with those in Arabidopsis.