HECATE3 (HEC3) is an important transcription factor involved in regulating the carpel and transmitting tract development in Arabidopsis thaliana. The homologous gene of HEC3 in Brassica napus (designed as BnHEC3) was obtained by in silico cloning and rapid amplification of cDNA end (RACE) method. BnHEC3 obtained from cDNA is of 748 bp, containing an open reading frame (ORF) of 546bp and coding ...

Transcription factors and their associated DNA binding sites are key regulatory elements of cellular differentiation, development, and environmental response. New tools that predict transcriptional regulation of biological processes are valuable to researchers studying both model and emerging-model plant systems. SeqEnrich predicts transcription factor networks from co-expressed Arabidopsis or ...

DNA methylation is an important regulatory mechanism for gene expression that involved in the biological processes of development and differentiation in plants. To investigate the association of DNA methylation with heterosis in Brassica, a set of intraspecific hybrids in Brassica rapa and B. napus and interspecific hybrids between B. rapa and B. napus, together with parental lines, were used t...

Forage brassicas are used as a forage in monoculture and multispecies mixtures, yet research defining best management practices is limited. Two studies were conducted to evaluate the effects of land preparation method planting date on establishment, mass, quality two Brassica species, ‘Inspiration’ canola (Brassica napus L.) ‘T-Raptor’ hybrid turnip (B. rapa subsp. × B. L.). Each experiment was...

This dialogue was held between the Guest Editors of the Special Issue on "Plant Transgenesis" of the Int. J. Dev. Biol. and Marc De Block. He was one of the first scientists worldwide to obtain transgenic plants transformed with the chimeric selectable marker genes encoding neomycin phosphotransferase and bialaphos that confer resistance against the antibiotic kanamycin and the herbicide Basta®...

A total of 16 BnaGLN1 genes coding for cytosolic glutamine synthetase isoforms (EC 6.3.1.2.) were found in the Brassica napus genome. The total number of BnaGLN1 genes, their phylogenetic relationships, and genetic locations are in agreement with the evolutionary history of Brassica species. Two BnaGLN1.1, two BnaGLN1.2, six BnaGLN1.3, four BnaGLN1.4, and two BnaGLN1.5 genes were found and name...

Determining the frequency of crop-wild transgene flow under field conditions is a necessity for the development of regulatory strategies to manage transgenic hybrids. Gene flow of green fluorescent protein (GFP) and Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) transgenes was quantified in three field experiments using eleven independent transformed Brassica napus L. lines and the wild relatives, B. rapa L. and ...

The S1 element is a plant short interspersed element (SINE) that was first described and studied in Brassica napus. In this work, we investigated the distribution and the molecular phylogeny of the S1 element within the Cruciferae (= Brassicaceae). S1 elements were found to be widely distributed within the Cruciferae, especially in species of the tribe Brassiceae. The molecular phylogeny of S1 ...

Fatty acids and their composition in seeds determine oil value for nutritional or industrial purposes and also affect seed germination as well as seedling establishment. To better understand the genetic basis of seed fatty acid biosynthesis in oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) we applied a genome-wide association study, using 91,205 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) characterized across a m...