Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz, known as popular names "gold-of-pleasure" or "false flax" is an alternative oilseed crop that can be grown under different climatic and soil condition. Up to date, however, the genomic information of camelina has not been studied in detail. Therefore, a cDNA library was constructed and characterized from young leaves. The constructed cDNA library incorporated of 1334 cDNA clones and the size of the insertion fragments average was 736 base pair. We generated a total of 1269 high-quality expressed sequence tags (ESTs) sequences. The result of cluster analysis of EST sequences showed that the number of unigene was 851. According to subsequent analysis, the 476 unigenes were highly homologous to known function genes and the other 375 unigenes were unknown. Remaining 63 unigenes had no homology with any other peptide in NCBI database, indicating that these seemed to be novel genes expressed in leaves of camelina. The database-matched ESTs were further classified into 17 categories according to their functional annotation. The most abundant of categories were protein with binding function (27%), metabolism (11%), subcellular localization (11%), cellular transport, transport facilities and transport routes (7%), energy (6%), regulation of metabolism and protein function (6%). Our result in this study provides an overview of mRNA expression profile and a basal genetic information of camelina as an oilseed crop.

There are many species as bioenergy crops and have different cold sensitivity in each. Cold-tolerant camelina and rapeseed, -sensitive jatropha, were used to investigate the cold stress response. Various physiological parameters such as leaf length, width, electrolyte leakage, stomatal conductance and chlorophyll fluorescence were measured to determine the growth rate treated with cold (2℃) for 5 days. Cold treated jatropha was damaged seriousiy but camelina and rapeseed were withstand. In order to investigate the cold-response on plasma membrane H+-ATPase activity isolated from leaves and roots of camelina, rapeseed and jatropha crops were exposed to cold stress. There were an increase in the activity of leaves and roots plasma membrane in cold-tolerant crops (camelina, rapeseed) while decreased the activity in cold-sensitive crop (jatropha). By western-blot analyses, the protein expression of plasma membrane H+-ATPase isolated from leaves and roots of camelina and rapeseed was increased in the presence of cold stress, but not in jatropha. These results may suggest that increased plasma membrane H+-ATPase of crops are closely related with cold-tolerant.

Cadmium (Cd) is one of heavy metals that can be easily absorbed by plant roots, and transported from soil to shoots. The effect of Cd concentration (0~200 μM) on the physiological responses, Cd content of shoot and root, and antioxidant enzymes by oil plants Jatropha curcas (cv. Biji Jarak) were investigated in hydroponics system for two weeks. Stomatal conductance was significantly depressed by Cd treated plants. However, the leaf chlorophyll content was unaffected by Cd treated plants. Cd contents in the roots of Jatropha were accumulated higher than those of shoots. Jatropha treated plants at 100 and 200 μM was found to accumulate more than 100 mg kg-1 of Cd in shoots. Jatropha plants had a high ablity to uptake Cd from soil and transport it from soil to shoot as a Cd hyperaccumulator plant because of plants accumulating more than 100 mg kg-1 of Cd in shoots are considered to define as Cd hyperaccumulator. These results confirm that Jatropha is a suitable candidate for the phytoremediation of high-level cadmium contaminated soils.

Brassica napus L. (Brassicaceae) plantation has increased as its seed is the primary source for bio-diesels. This study was conducted Male sterile (MS) line (cv. 'Sun-Mang') to pollen parent (cv. 'Mokpo 64') ratio of rape plants on fatty acid compositions of six sequential stages and yield performances. Ratio of MS line to pollen parent was followed, 4:2, 10:1, and 10:2, respectively. Seeds of six sequential stages (35, 40, 45, 50, 55, and 60 days after flowering) were collected and determined using SEED FAME ESTIMATION. The results showed that oleic acid content (C18:1) of the MS to pollen parent ratio (4:2) relatively increased up to 60 days after flowering compared to other ratios. Other fatty acid compositions such as palmitic acid (C16:0), stearic acid (C18:0), linoleic acid (C18:2) and linolenic acid (C18:3) contents decreased during seed maturation period. Seed weight (1000 seeds) of MS to pollen parent ratio (4:2) was higher than other treatments. These results suggest that fatty acid compositions and seed weight was affected by ratio of MS line to pollen parent. For rape seed production, a suitable ratio of MS line to pollen parent will be required to cultivate rape plantations.

Jatropha (Jatropha curcas L.) is a shrub or tree belonging the genus Euphorbiaceae and is cultivated in a tropical regions including South America, South-East Asia, India and Africa. Jatropha possibly is adapted to grow in a wide range of environments for producing non-edible oils. The objective of the study is to determine effect of salt and drought on plant growth characteristics. Treatments are thus followed, 100 and 200 mM NaCl and 5 and 10% PEG. Various physiological parameters such leaf length and width, stomatal conductance, chlorophyll fluorescence and gene expression were investigated. The results showed that from 2 days onwards, 100 and 200mM NaCl treatments were significantly suppressed leaf length, width, and stomatal conductance, but 5% and 10% PEG treatments showed a similar trend of control plants. Gene expression of JcACBP of the 100 mM NaCl was slightly decreased compred to those of other treatments. These results indicate that 100 and 200 mM NaCl treatments significantly showed negative response, but 5 and 10% PEG treatments improved plant growth and development of Jatropha.

Brassica napus L. (Brassicaceae), is one of major oilseed crops commonly cultivated cereal-growing areas after the rice harvest in Asia countries, has recently focused much attention as its seed is the primary source for bio-diesels. In rapeseed growing regions of South Korea, typical double-cropping regions are constantly or periodically received with poorly drained soil condition or encountered dried soil condition during the reproductive stage. This study was conducted on rapeseed plants subjected to both waterlogging and drought conditions for 4 days to investigate responses in physiological characteristics, fatty acid compositions and yield performances at reproductive stage. The treatments were thus as follows: (1) control normally irrigated, (2) waterlogging treatment were flooded by placing their pots inside larger plastic pots filled with tap water with a 2-cm water layer over soil surface, (3) drought treatment was not irrigated. For recovery period, rapeseed plants subjected to waterlogging for 4 days were drained after waterlogging, and irrigated daily as control. Drought treatment after recovery period was irrigated daily as control. Rate of photosynthesis and stomatal conductance of waterlogging and drought treated plants significantly decreased within 4 days. For recovery period, stomatal conductance and photosynthetic rate of the waterlogged and drought treated plants occurred level similar to that of the controls by 2 days after recovery period. Fatty acid compositions of the both waterlogging and drought treated plants did not affect, but yield performances of the waterlogging treatment significantly decreased. These results suggest that both waterlogging and drought conditions for 4 days did not influence fatty acid compositions, but affected yield performance at final harvest.

AtHMA3 is one of P1B-ATPase of Arabidopsis thaliana which transports and/or stores Cd and Pb in the plant cell. To test whether AtHMA3 can be used to develop enhanced resistance plant to Cd and Pb for phytoremediation, we overexpressed AtHMA3 in Columbia-0 using a pBI121vector containing the 35S promoter. To evaluate their Cd and Pb resistance, seeds of three different T3 homozygous(HMA3-1~3) and wild type plants(col-0) were germinated and grown on agar plates containing 50μM Cd, 500μM Pb and 50μM Cd+ 500μM Pb for 3 weeks. 35S::AtHMA3 grew better than wild type plants about 1.1-to 1.8-fold in Cd or Pb containg mediums. Fresh weights of all three lines of transgenic plants were 1.2-to 1.5-fold higher than those of wild type plants in Cd or Pb-containing medium. In addition to, we measured Cd and Pb content in both wild type and transgenic plants grown in solution with 50μM Cd, 500μM Pb and 50μM Cd+ 500μM Pb for 6 d. AtHMA3-overexpressing plants had consistently higher Cd and Pb contents than wild type plants. Chlorophyll contents were not significant difference between overlines and wild-types. These results show that HMA3 contributes to Cd and Pb resistance, and it might be useful for the phytoremediation.

Aluminum (Al) toxicity in plants is one of the major limitations to crop growth on acid soils. The Al-induced change of H+-ATPase expression has been regarded as an important mechanism for Al tolerance in soybean. To investigate whether translational regulation of plasma membrane H+-ATPase is involved in the response to Al stress, we conducted western - blot of this protein. The results show that western - blot of plasma membrane H+-ATPase in the "Sowon" (Al tolernace) significantly increased in translational expression level, while citric acid (50 μM) with Al (50 μM) treatment has not effected. In contrast, Al sensitive cultivar "Poongsannamool" inhibited expression level of plasma membrane H+-ATPase with Al treatment. Two - dimensional gel analysis were performed to determine the protein induction patterns of control and Al (50 μM, 24 h) treated soybean. There are many changes of plasma membrane proteins in both cultivars under Al stress. Especially "Sowon" was significantly enhanced the expression of the plasma membrane H+-ATPase in Al treatment. But protein expression of "Poongsannamool" was less than "Sowon". These results suggest that the regulatory role of plasma membrane H+-ATPase may involved the tolerance mechanism in soybean roots. At the present, transcriptional level of H+-ATPase is under investigation.