Sclerotinia stem rot caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum affects canola production worldwide. Emerging evidence suggests that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play important roles in the regulation of gene expression in plants, in response to both abiotic and biotic stress. So far, identification of lncRNAs has been limited to a few model plant species, and their roles in mediating responses to bi...

Canola (Brassica napus L.) is the second largest cash crop in Canada (4). Blackleg disease, caused by Leptosphaeria maculans (Desmaz.) Ces. & De Not. (anamorph = Phoma lingam (Tode:Fr.) Desmaz.), is one of most economically important diseases of canola (21). In the past decade, canola production has expanded significantly worldwide and interest in the blackleg fungus, particularly its biology, ...

Little biochemical information is available on carbohydrate metabolism in developing canola (Brassica napus L.) silique (pod) wall and seed tissues. This research examines the carbohydrate contents and sucrose (Suc) metabolic enzyme activities in different aged silique wall and seed tissues during oil filling. The silique wall partitioned photosynthate into Suc over starch and predominantly acc...

We have functionally characterized an Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) gene AtHSD1 (At5g50600) that encodes a protein with homology to animal 11-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (HSD). Transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressing AtHSD1 (designated AOHSD plants) under the control of the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter showed increased growth and seed yield as well as increased toleranc...

Canola (oilseed rape, Brassica napus L.) is susceptible to infection by the biotrophic protist Plasmodiophora brassicae, the causal agent of clubroot. To understand the roles of microRNAs (miRNAs) during the post-transcriptional regulation of disease initiation and progression, we have characterized the changes in miRNA expression profiles in canola roots during clubroot disease development and...

In this study, bacteria were isolated from the rhizosphere and inside the roots of canola (Brassica napus L.) plants grown in the field from northern Iran. Firstly, 150 strains (endophytic and rhizospheric isolates) isolated from canola were characterized for plant growth promoting (PGP) traits. Of them, one hundred isolates produced indole3-acetic acid (IAA), whereas 17 isolates solubilized ph...

Morphometric, electrophoretic, and immunological procedures were used to probe the structural and physiological differences between triazine-resistant (R) and susceptible (S) isolines of canola (Brassica napus L.). The R biotype exhibited increased grana stacking and decreased amounts of starch compared to the S biotype. Likewise, characters associated with an increase in grana stacking (lower ...

Lodging, defined as the permanent displacement of aboveground parts, is a common problem to cause yield loss, deterioration in seed quality and difficult to harvest in canola (Brassica napus L.) crop production. This study aimed to develop a method for assessing crop lodging, to examine how agronomic practices affected the relationships between root lodging and electrical capacitance traits. Ca...