Field pennycress (Thlaspi arvense L.) is being domesticated as a new winter cover crop and biofuel species for the Midwestern United States that can be double-cropped between corn and soybeans. A genome sequence will enable the use of new technologies to make improvements in pennycress. To generate a draft genome, a hybrid sequencing approach was used to generate 47 Gb of DNA sequencing reads f...

Nickel uptake and cellular compartmentation were investigated in three Ni hyperaccumulators: Alyssum bertolonii (Desv), Alyssum lesbiacum (Candargy) and Thlaspi goesingense (Hálácsy). The three species showed similar hyperaccumulation of Ni, but T. goesingense was less tolerant to Ni than the two Alyssum species. An addition of 500 mg Ni kg(-1) to a nutrient-rich growth medium significantly inc...

Oilseed crops are sources of oils and seed meal having a multitude of uses. While the domestication of soybean and rapeseed took extended periods of time, new genome-based techniques have ushered in an era where crop domestication can occur rapidly. One attractive target for rapid domestication is the winter annual plant Field Pennycress (Thlaspi arvense L.; pennycress; Brassicaceae). Pennycres...

Metal hyperaccumulation is a trait present in over 450 higher plant species. Hyperaccumulators are also tolerant to metals, but hyperaccumulation and tolerance are genetically independent traits. The ecological and biological significance of hyperaccumulation is not clear yet. To provide new insights, this review examines recent literature, in particular focusing on the Cd and Zn hyperaccumulat...

The ability of Thlaspi goesingense Hálácsy to hyperaccumulate Ni appears to be governed by its extraordinary degree of Ni tolerance. However, the physiological basis of this tolerance mechanism is unknown. We have investigated the role of vacuolar compartmentalization and chelation in this Ni tolerance. A direct comparison of Ni contents of vacuoles from leaves of T. goesingense and from the no...

Field pennycress (Thlaspi arvense L.) has potential as an oilseed crop that may be grown during fall (autumn) and winter months in the Midwestern United States and harvested in the early spring as a biodiesel feedstock. There has been little agronomic improvement in pennycress through traditional breeding. Recent advances in genomic technologies allow for the development of genomic tools to ena...